Leaning back against the wall, Mateo closed his eyes. His lips may have moved, but if they did, I didn’t hear anything he said.
I did feel something though, a warm wind—except bearing in mind that I was covered by armor, it was impossible for me to feel anything of the kind. I had a suspicion of what it might be, but I didn’t have time or any realistic direction to explore it.
In front of me, Mateo pushed himself away from the wall, still walking stiffly for the first two steps, but normally by the third. He took a deep breath and smiled, “Ready?” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 46→
I didn’t. With the new suit acting at the speed of my thought (where it could), I might be faster than normal people, but Nanosecond was faster than I was.
I’d been hoping her name was just marketing.
She ran at me, moving too quickly for me to see much more than a blur of long hair and fists. Her hands hit the suit in a string of blows that reminded me of the sound of rain but weren’t doing much of anything to my armor. Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 45→
“I…” Checking the armor’s status report, I learned that while the rocket fuel systems had been fully repaired, I had less fuel than I thought.
I hadn’t designed it with as much fuel as the Rocket suit to begin with, so losing some made more of a dent in the total supply. Did I have enough to fly up ten floors, maybe a little more?
We turned the corner on the stairwell, our steps echoing, and came across the bodies. Hers were easy to tell from mine. Mine didn’t move, but they stared as we stepped over them, some caught mid-frown or mid-smile. Hers were pale and breathing slowly as they lay there in their black uniforms, bulging where armor protected them.
It wasn’t hard to keep up with her. The biggest issue was remembering to keep my head down so that I didn’t hit the ceiling. It’d be a shame to trash one of the paintings above the landings. Destroying a window was one thing. Glass could be replaced, but the paintings couldn’t.
“What’s with the extra-large suit?” Amy asked over the comm.
I wondered if I should smash the window. It seemed a little bit overboard to smash it just because it was so covered by construction dust that I couldn’t see through it, but while the V4 had many abilities, I hadn’t thought to include tools for window washing.
As I ran, I glanced over at the train station. A bus was parked under the pavilion and a small crowd stood near it, all of them looking in my direction.
I pointed back at the two shattered sets of powered armor and the vampire on the ground. “She’s a vampire. Whatever you do, don’t pull out the stake!”
If they replied, I didn’t hear them. I didn’t know that she’d revive if they pulled out the stake, but better safe than sorry. The sheer variety of vampires in this mess argued that caution was a good trait. Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 40→
Ignoring the scream, I checked the vampire I’d staked. She’d slumped and stopped moving. For lack of any reason to think otherwise, I decided to assume she was down and turned to face her partner.
That turned out to either be a bad move or one that saved my life.
As I turned, I saw the other mech’s right arm move and even though I knew I’d damaged that arm, I used the implant to fire off the directional rockets and send me sideways into the air, giving me a second or two of movement to the left before sending me to the right. Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 39→
“How are you doing?” Mateo’s voice sounded in my head. “We’re a few floors in. We haven’t run into anyone, but there are definitely vampires.”
“Busy,” I said. “Two people in powered armor so far. Might be more.”
“Got it,” Mateo said. “Don’t be afraid to retreat or call for more help. We’ll keep you informed of what we’re doing. Do the same.” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 37→
The Legion of Nothing: A Series of Online Superhero Novels (Updates Monday and Thursday)