Tag Archives: Jody

Courtesy: Part 33

“Are you okay with that?” I asked, watching as the next group of tendril monsters began to clamber over or around their dead predecessors.

“We need to get down there,” she said, squeezing her left hand in a way that I knew was drawing blood and power along with it.

From the other side of our group, Yellow Mask, who’d been stabbing tendril monsters with her rapier turned to stare at Bloodmaiden, “Is that blood magic?” Continue reading Courtesy: Part 33

Courtesy: Part 32

We didn’t have much time to have a discussion about it either because the problem with fighting a hive mind (or at least a central intelligence that coordinates all the others) is that it constantly sees the big picture.

The big picture in that moment was that it had us off-balance and it was time to capitalize on it.

We’d destroyed the ones holding Jody, but now all the rest of them had charged in while we were doing it, trampling the bodies of the ones that we’d killed.

It wasn’t just the tendril monsters either. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 32

Courtesy: Part 31

I’d deliberately chosen to be our right flank, knowing that I’d be in the front line. As they came toward us, I opened up with sonics, trying a medium width beam and aiming for their legs.

My plan? Slow them down.

While imperfect, it worked okay. Though a wider beam might not do as much damage as a narrow beam, it allowed me the luxury of poor aim. I wasn’t terrible at aiming, but I was running, trying to keep aware of my teammates’ positions, and also trying to point the sonics under each arm at something useful. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 31

Courtesy: Part 30

You know how I’d said that a mass attack from all directions would be a bad thing? That’s more or less what happened.

The smaller room where we’d met Bouman had been the point where the parking garage under City Hall connected to the basement levels of the parking garage next door that were reserved for staff of the city, county, and federal buildings.

With more understanding of our psychology than I’d realized they had, they’d filled the smaller room with a mix of tendril monsters and office workers from City Hall and maybe other buildings too. I could tell from the business casual slacks and button down shirts combined with name tags hanging from lanyards. Between the name tags and the film of mushroom skin over their bodies and faces, I understood the whole situation.

If we wanted to escape by way of City Hall, the way we’d come, the most efficient  methods to use would be Izzy’s scream, my bots, and Sean’s buzzsaw of ball bearings. All of those would straight out murder other human beings now. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 30

Courtesy: Part 28

It was good that I’d improved the Rocket suit since we’d first faced the Cabal because if I’d been wearing the old suit that hit would have killed me.

As it was, I still saw a slew of error messages run through my HUD, but not the kind that told me to expect an imminent systems failure—the kind that meant that the suit was repairing itself, but still intact. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 28

Courtesy: Part 27

That was not something I wanted to hear in that moment. He sounded angry and I could guess why. Since we’d defeated them, we’d seen Cabal soldiers a few different times—guarding armored trucks, working for the Nine, and now working for the government. 

We had not seen them working together.

Lee had set them up for a trap and put them in a situation where they had a choice—agree not to fight us for a year or die. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 27

Courtesy: Part 26

That hope only grew as Daniel, Amy, and Jaclyn moved in behind us. Daniel stood next to me but turned around as if deciding that someone needed to be watching Bouman and the others directly.

Sean and the others joined us, Dayton and Jody (with knives ready) choosing to stand with Daniel—which was a good choice since more tendril monsters were entering from Bouman’s side of the room.

Amy stood to my right, but standing with her back to me, able to easily check both the room we might enter and the one we might leave. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 26

Courtesy: Part 24

In my HUD, the screens from Haley’s team showed similar scenes. The tendrils extending from the fleshy mushroom masses waved and jerked around spastically—so much so that I wondered if the shock of Daniel’s attack was making things better or not.

Sure, the Fungus Collective might not be able to concentrate, but on the other hand, some of those tendrils were as thick as small trees and many of the people on Team Hidden weren’t physically more powerful than a normal human. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 24

Courtesy: Part 22

Sean’s comm started ringing. He stared down at the screen. Thanks to the Rocket suit’s sensors, I’d zoomed in on the screen and read it before I even had time to consider the question of his privacy.

It said, “Mom.”

Bouman nodded, “You’ll want to get that.”

Sean all but snarled at him, “I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to scare me. Mom’s either one of you by now and she’ll say anything or she’s surrounded. Either way, I can’t stop you from doing whatever you want to her, but if you kill her, you don’t have any hold on me at all.” Continue reading Courtesy: Part 22

Courtesy: Part 20

My first instinct was to tell him that I doubted it strongly, that the fungus was a parasite that was warping his perception of the world, and that he wouldn’t look back on what he was doing right now with pride later.

Daniel, though, told me, Let’s see where this goes. We heard Bouman. How much independence of thought do they have? Are they still individuals but now they want to preserve the fungus or is it a hive mind? Talking will let me feel him out mentally.

Okay, I thought back at him, but we can’t let it stall us. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 20