Category Archives: Arc 12.1.0: Rematch

Rematch: Part 12

“Well, I got a charger for the brick, but for the tablet,” and there I paused, knowing that if I said what I saw we were going to have to trust her with even more, “I got ‘god killer.’ I don’t know what sense if any, that makes to you.”

Over my implant, Cassie said, I hope she’s worth the risk. Because if she isn’t trustworthy, that thing might be going to Cuba.

Shaking her head and then looking me in the eyes, Yoselin said, “No. Except now my implant is warning me that if I repeat what you said, I’m risking reprogramming by the Dominators.”

Laughing, she said, “It threatens me a lot. It’s like carrying the worst parts of home along.” Continue reading Rematch: Part 12

Rematch: Part 11

Len nodded at them, “I assume you’re delivering the new artifact. If you’re here for  the next delivery of mechs, I told your… owners… that they’re going to be late due to certain parts being unavailable.”

As he’d said, owners, he’d grinned at them and not a nice grin. It was more of a smirk. The Tara twin gave no reaction, an expressionless dark blond woman in a black business suit. By contrast, Captain Clone’s eyes narrowed and his mouth widened in an expression that in my life meant that Cassie’s next punch was going to hurt. I’d mostly seen it after a hard punch while training,  or when we were playing Monopoly.

The less said about that, the better. Continue reading Rematch: Part 11

Rematch: Part 10

Turning off the TV and leaving the remote on the chair, Cassie walked over to the table in the middle of the room, asking, “From what little I’ve heard of Kid Biohack from you and the rest of the team, he loves any camera he can find, but he’s on the right side. From what I’ve seen from your recording, Yoselin might be trustworthy for what we’re doing, but she’s probably got plans for Armory’s stuff that we might not like.”

Daniel put his phone in his pocket and joined her at the table, reaching it at about the same time I pulled out a chair, “You were saying we might want to blow up Armory’s stuff. With the Nine there and Yoselin likely to grab what she can for Cuba, it makes even more sense. It could make for a good distraction on the way out.” Continue reading Rematch: Part 10

Rematch: Part 9

I turned, checking around the corner of our booth to see Yoselin stepping back from the buffet and walking down the aisle back to our booth.

She grinned at me, It’s funny how that story lives on. My dad never saw him again after that. The earth elemental disappeared after the island sank. The Dixieland Defenders might have destroyed it. Cuba didn’t allow supernatural heroes to be part of government teams back then so my dad didn’t have anyone to ask.

She sat down and bit into a croissant she’d spread strawberry jelly on. Continue reading Rematch: Part 9

Rematch: Part 8

Adding more to my disquiet, my implant chose that moment to create a brief illusion of wires threaded through her brain and label it, “Human Ascendancy implant.”

That brought up a small storm of thoughts, questions, and feelings, starting with whether she was allied with the Ascendancy because they were not nice people. They were the Abominators’ former human slaves who decided to carry on their empire in the tradition of their masters.

That didn’t seem like the most likely possibility though. I remembered that her father had been the sidekick of a Russian super who’d been investigating Abominator tech, causing them to both go up against and eventually befriend Grandpa and Larry.

Most likely her tech dated from that. Taking a chance, I told my implant to send her a ping. Continue reading Rematch: Part 8

Rematch: Part 7

My thoughts went in all directions. Could I maybe turn off my video when I made the return call and say, “Nope, that wasn’t me?” As much as that sounded tempting, I might actually need his help sometime. Bearing in mind his powers—the ability to alter his physical speed, strength, and toughness by altering his biology—and the fact that he could put himself into Jaclyn’s league in those areas, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

He was a bit of a bro, but he had a moral code buried somewhere underneath a need to be liked by as many people as possible. He’d fought his best friend after it turned out that the guy had been robbing armored cars. Continue reading Rematch: Part 7

Rematch: Part 6

Good point, I thought back at her. I don’t know what we should do with all of that, but the only thing your people suggested was that we should do something about whoever was selling equipment to the Nine and Syndicate L. They didn’t mention anything about the equipment.

Daniel gave off a hint of amusement that felt like a gentle breeze in my head. If they don’t have some kind of plan for it themselves, I’d be surprised. I’m betting that they’ve got other people on the island to clean up after we do whatever we do.

I felt Cassie thinking even if I didn’t hear it. Now that you say it, yeah. I’d bet on it. Continue reading Rematch: Part 6

Rematch: Part 5

At the same time, the smell of vomit began to saturate my awareness. Beyond the smell of alcohol, I recognized the smell of the fried cheese curds Cassie ate at some point in the afternoon. Unlike your average cheese curds, these hadn’t been made of cheddar, but of a stinkier cheese I didn’t recognize, adding a strong moldy addition to the already questionable smell.

“That smell,” I swallowed, trying to keep everything down, “I feel sick too.”

The bald man’s eyes widened. Continue reading Rematch: Part 5

Rematch: Part 4

I tried to remember. Had Kid Biohack ever seen my face? I didn’t think so. I didn’t even know his real first name. He’d graduated from Stapledon before I got there. Still, we knew some of the same people. It wasn’t impossible that he’d recognize me if Stapledon’s block permitted them to show a picture to another Stapledon graduate.

On the other hand, he’d shown up the year we fought The Thing That Eats—my sophomore year at Grand Lake University. He probably hadn’t looked at my picture often enough in the last two and half years to recognize me. Plus, Daniel hadn’t been around for much of that while Cassie had only shown up for the end.

Assuming I didn’t shout, “Yo, Kid Biohack, I’m the Rocket!” I was probably okay. Continue reading Rematch: Part 4

Rematch: Part 3

Remembering back to when I’d taken Cassie’s gun to rescue her from being kidnapped by Rook, I supposed that a being that had been sitting unused for thousands of years before Cassie found it could handle some delayed gratification.

You could also argue that it might be desperate enough to do anything to avoid being alone again.

“Huh,” I said, “I guess that’s good. Time to go damage our ears?” Continue reading Rematch: Part 3