Tag Archives: Izzy

Demo: Part 13

The flash worked better on the audience than anyone else. All around me, people were saying things like, “Can you see what’s happening?”

Amy shook her head. Tara, like me, appeared to be unaffected.

She’d probably anticipated the explosion.

Not that that mattered. What mattered was that the blast hadn’t affected Gordon either. Either his hood or something in his mask had blocked the light. Continue reading Demo: Part 13

Demo: Part 12

Standing slightly behind Stephanie, Slugger and Blue Mask stood on either side of their flag pole. Sean and Gordon flew above them—at least at first. Team one had either opted for a defensive strategy or they’d been too slow to go on offense.

The way the wind had blown the broken bits of rock away from Stephanie argued that it was more likely to be intentional than not.

On the whole both teams were playing to their strengths. Team four had three fast moving, practically invulnerable members (Izzy, Akesha, Patriot, Jr) whereas everyone on team one was physically human normal so far as I knew—however fast Gordon or Sean might be.

On the other hand, team one had Stephanie who could immobilize from a distance, and Slugger and Blue Mask. I assumed they had to be useful somehow. Continue reading Demo: Part 12

Threat Analysis: Part 5

Amy closed her eyes, said a few words and poked her arm. As she pulled the pin out, her face visibly paled–even in the light of a streetlight.

Haley frowned. “Are you okay?”

Amy nodded slowly. “It’s not a difficult spell, but I don’t have as much power to work with without transforming. Could all of you hold out your arms?”

Camille extended her arm halfway to Amy, asking, “What are you–”

Amy grabbed Camille’s forearm, and poked her with the pin. “This.” Continue reading Threat Analysis: Part 5

Threat Analysis: Part 4

We stayed together. Even if Izzy and Jaclyn could have been there instantaneously, it was just safer.

The park was largely empty–not completely because there were stragglers and groups that were still talking. There were also a few police officers.

Vaughn sat on the grass, his face lit by his phone’s screen. As we came closer, he turned off his phone and stared at us.

“How did you do that? We were talking and now you’re all over–”

He stopped. “Something bad just happened. I wasn’t talking to you, was I?”

Jaclyn glanced around the park. “Daniel? Izzy?”

Daniel shook his head. “Give me a second. I’m trying something.” Continue reading Threat Analysis: Part 4

Threat Analysis: Part 3

A few hours later we were on the lawn in front of Denver’s City and County Building in Civic Center Park—a big park with pillared government buildings all around it. The State Capitol building’s gold dome shone in the sunset on the far end of the park.

We’d arrived hours before the actual fireworks for the obvious reasons that it would be easier to find parking, and stake out a spot on the lawn.

We could have gone to Castle Rock’s fireworks display, but Lim had sent an email to everyone encouraging students to spread out. We’d have an easier time blending in in Denver. In fact, everyone in the Stapledon program could have gone to Denver’s show and not skewed the look of the crowd appreciably toward young adults.

We’d bought cheap camping chairs on the way there, and set them up on the lawn. Near me Daniel and Izzy talked with Cassie. Haley, Jaclyn and Camille were laughing about something behind me.

I had my League phone out, and open to the folder on the League’s servers where I’d had Hal put the transcripts.

Hal had overdone it. By far. Continue reading Threat Analysis: Part 3

Go Time: Part 8

Who was the second glow? Russian Victory Jr.? Victoryboy?

The way I remembered it, all Russian superheroes were state sponsored. The ones that weren’t state sponsored were officially criminals no matter what their motivation.

A third glow appeared behind the two I’d already noticed, reminding me of something. Russian Victory was part of a group of three soldiers in powered armor. My grandfather had mentioned it was connected to Russian folklore somehow.

For the life of me I couldn’t remember the name of the group though. Continue reading Go Time: Part 8

Go Time: Part 7

“What’s Izzy supposed to do with the Ferris wheel?”

Vaughn shrugged. “Maybe take a picture on it? I don’t know. It’s in the Guinness Book of World Records. She should do something funny with it. Maybe pretend she’s going to throw it, or stand in front of it with her armor saying ‘All your base are belong to us?'”

“Better yet,” Jaclyn said, “how about you let Izzy know that everything works and that she can bug out of there before someone starts firing missiles at her.” Continue reading Go Time: Part 7

Go Time: Part 6

“Marcus and Sydney are waiting in the jet. They’ll be taking off soon. They’re going to shadow her from a distance—far enough away that they shouldn’t be visible, but close enough that they’re in range.”

Jaclyn leaned toward the screen, probably noticing now that the camera display program’s current tab was labeled “Blue,” but the second tab was labeled “Jet.”

I clicked on the button that showed all cameras, and the program divided the screen between Izzy’s view of the sky above South Dakota and the League jet’s much less interesting view of the airlock between the hangar and Lake Michigan.

Jaclyn pulled up a chair and sat next to me. “I didn’t know Marcus could fly the jet.”

Then she frowned. “They can’t hear us from here, right?” Continue reading Go Time: Part 6

Remote Control: Part 4

Izzy’s forehead wrinkled. “Why do you think that?”

“I’m not sure, but I think she may have talked to the invaders in their native language. Anyway, I know that somewhere in there Amy used magic to transform a little in their direction. Something like that. That whole battle’s a little blurry at this point.”

“I think you’re right,” Daniel said, glancing over at Izzy and then back to me. “Judging from the way she made that shield and that she can fly, her magic is pretty flexible. It’s worth a question. Who do we talk to if it doesn’t work?” Continue reading Remote Control: Part 4

Remote Control: Part 3

I tested the satellite bot for a while, and then I started to think about the next generation of roachbot. I’d started out creating armor with the nanotech I’d designed, but I ought to be using it to construct roachbots. If I did it right, I’d only have to perfect a design, and then I’d be able to create hundreds if not thousands of them trivially.

Better yet, it would probably make for a faster design process since I’d be able to do the work within a CAD program instead of physically constructing every version. Continue reading Remote Control: Part 3