Tag Archives: Camille

Courtesy: Part 37

“Huh,” I checked around us again for hostiles with the suit’s sensors and didn’t see anything while my mind raced.

How much could they get out of Arete at this point? He’d been dead for a bit by now. On the other hand, your opponent always did things for a reason. Best to assume that they were going to copy his voice, add it to the telepaths, and create some kind of super-influencer or add it to every fungus construct they could.

“Does everyone have buzzers? As in anti-voice control buzzers? Preferably my design?” I looked around the group for responses. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 37

Courtesy: Part 9

Could the mushroom zombies replace Arete’s missing parts or access his memory? The latter option would represent a major security leak both for the Defenders and the Nine.

It didn’t seem likely, but if it was possible, I didn’t like it. From what I’d seen of it, even acting collectively the zombies weren’t very smart, but if they could integrate Arete in, maybe they could be. Plus, what if they could reproduce his powers in the mushroom zombies?

We needed to end this, but we’d have to figure out where to hit it. We’d destroyed the “brain.” We’d need to figure out where the backup was or if it could operate as some kind of swarm without a center. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 9

Simple Choices: Part 7

Well, at least the call was over. It wasn’t as if I hated Sean at this point, but I didn’t love unpredictability and if Sean had been turned by the Dominators, it would definitely be a surprise.

On the other hand, if they turned him and asked about me, they’d know our history. If they knew that, they’d know that he’s not someone I’d trust without question, making him a bad choice for betrayal. Still, if they could get him and couldn’t get anyone closer, they’d use him.

The screen went blank and Haley and I looked at each other. Continue reading Simple Choices: Part 7

The Power: Part 6

Dayton laughed, “Yeah, but he’s good at fighting, better than anyone else we’ve trained with. I do feel like he’d kill just about anybody if he felt like it—including us, but, he hasn’t. That’s a point in his favor.”

Thinking back to his father’s death, Sean forced a chuckle, “Yeah, you remember that we’re officially signing the contract tomorrow, right? Make sure that Jody remembers. He’s got to be there or he’ll have to sign later. They’re in and out in a day and if we’re not all there, it’s going to look bad. Maybe they’ll cancel everything. I don’t know.”

Not laughing, Dayton spoke in a calm, deep voice, “I get it. This is a big deal to you. It’s a big deal to all of us. Me too, believe me. We’ll be getting professional football player salaries. I know Jody’s interested in that.” Continue reading The Power: Part 6

The Power: Part 5

Sydney frowned, “You’ve checked them out, right? I mean, we spent our whole childhood with Dad telling us about people who wanted us for our powers. You checked and made sure it’s not connected to the Cabal.”

Camille pursed her lips, glancing over at Sydney, and then back to Sean, not saying anything.

She never seemed to stop talking normally, but Sean knew why. Even if she hadn’t grown up with them, her mother had been part of the same group as his dad. She’d known that she could be snatched away and murdered or brainwashed from childhood. Continue reading The Power: Part 5

The Power: Part 4

Sydney had been looking back at Camille, but in response to Camille’s question, she turned to look past the closet next to the door and into the main room.

Tall and thin with long blond hair and pale skin, anyone who saw Sydney with Sean assumed that they were brother and sister. Sean knew this. Seeing Camille with Sydney made him wonder how he’d ever missed that Camille was also his sister.

Even though Camille had long, dark brown hair and tan skin, courtesy of her mother, her face had the same oblong shape and lips as Sean and Sydney. Her height was only a little shorter than Sydney’s.

He could see an echo of his father’s face in both of theirs. It wasn’t the only way his father had disappointed him, but that wasn’t Camille’s fault. Continue reading The Power: Part 4

The Power: Part 3

“No problem, I’ll watch for it,” Vaughn said. “The thing is about business is that it’s all about people in the end. Get in bed with the wrong people and you get crabs or something. I mean, seriously, Uncle Russ made a deal with the Nine and he’s going to be paying for it for a long time even if he doesn’t go to jail.”

Ignoring the cascade of memories of Russell Hardwick and his father, Sean said, “Yeah. I’ll keep it in mind. I don’t want crabs.”

Vaughn laughed and after a little while they hung up. Continue reading The Power: Part 3

A Good Boy: Part 1

Castle Rock Compound, Colorado, Earth

Haley sat next to Camille in the dining hall. The wide, grey rock room was nearly empty. A few people were inside but they sat in small clusters, none of the clusters anywhere near each other.

Camille leaned in,“You can talk about it. It’s normal.”

Haley eyed her, pausing before sticking her fork into a piece of rare steak. “Everybody knows I’m worried. Talking about it more won’t make me feel much better, but they’ll get sick of hearing about it soon if they aren’t already. And besides, it hasn’t even been two weeks yet. Lee said it would be at least two weeks, so they aren’t even late.” Continue reading A Good Boy: Part 1

A Day in The Life: Part 12

“I hope my personnel files made entertaining reading,” I told him.

“Listening,” he said. “And I didn’t do it simply to invade your privacy. I needed to know how you’d handle it if the unexpected came up. It happens frequently around here. Now though, I need your answer. We’ll need more people in the next fight and I have an idea about how your specific power can help us.”

Ideally, a journalist reports the truth and nothing more. Everyone knows that perfect objectivity is impossible, but you try your best because the alternative is worse. I knew that, and I also knew that I could never be truly objective about people I’d fought beside.

These are people you have to trust with your life. Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 12

A Day in The Life: Part 10

Railgun turned away from the screen to look at me. “I don’t know if should say this, but all of Justice Fist was descended from Red Lightning’s followers. We’re not them and we don’t have to make their choices.”

“Um-hmm,” I said. “I’m impressed that the Heroes’ League knew that and took you in. Not every team would have done that, and especially not teenagers. Do you know why?”

She frowned, thinking. “Some of us knew each other and liked each other before we knew we had powers, but I think it must have been fighting the Cabal. They joined up with Syndicate L and the Executioners to attack all of us. We worked together with the League to fight them. After that they invited us over when they’d get together to watch a movie or play video games, so we all got to know each other. That was it.” Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 10