Frowning, Ben said, “I know. It wasn’t smart, and I know that, but I couldn’t ignore it, and I knew I’d never get another chance.”
“It’s your life.” She glanced toward the windows. “As for mine, the Circle’s different now. It’s gathering power. When things come together, we’re going to dominate the magical scene. If ‘getting out’ doesn’t work, look us up. We might need a tech.”
She narrowed her eyes and said, “No. Damn it, listen to me for a second. There are more creatures out there than demons, and he’s not a demon. I think he’s in the chapter called ‘Lesser Mysteries.”
“Second,” she looked up from the tablet and caught his eye, “I’m going to be joining the Circle. My initiation is next month. They’re under new leadership. If one of them comes here, please don’t mention the past. It makes things awkward.”
“This is it,” he said. “When this is over, I’m out. I’ll live off it, or maybe I’ll go legit, and find security holes for a living. I don’t know. I only know I won’t have to think about the next job.”
“You’re getting out? For real?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Weren’t you listening to me? I’ve been talking about this for years. I’ve got a plan. The plan says I’ve got to raise a certain amount of money. In combination with what I’ve saved so far, I’ve got the money. That’s it, when I get the money I’m out.”
He’d counted on having to hide from the mob. That didn’t bother him. He’d done it before and he had plans for that. The police would be a problem.
He hadn’t gotten new fingerprints. There were people out there who could have provided them, but the price was high, and he hadn’t thought he’d need it for this job.
I’m on vacation and will be posting a story that a few of you may have seen in one of The Good Fight anthologies. It’s about one of the ways that the Heroes’ Leagues’ secret identities remain concealed.
Ben walked down the hall to the front lobby. It was his last day, and he wouldn’t miss the place. It felt too happy. He passed posters on leadership, inspiration, and teamwork before stepping into the room.
The receptionist, a woman with peroxide blond hair and blindingly white teeth gave him a smile as fake as the rest of her. “Leaving early for lunch, Mick?” Continue reading Interlude: Too Close, Part 1→
Dayton averted his eyes, but then looked up, “I know, but I’ve been thinking about this lately. I love the guy like a brother because he pretty much is, you know, but sometimes you love your brother even though you don’t always like him. Jody’s touchy and he bullies people—still.” Continue reading The Power: Part 15→
Shaking his head, Dayton looked Jody in the eye, “This isn’t just about saving the Heroes’ League. We don’t know that’s even on the table. This is about the bigger picture. If we can’t trust that these guys are on the level, we shouldn’t go into business with them.”
Jody’s mouth twisted, “But that’s the thing, it seems like these guys are on the level. We’re considering dropping out of this because maybe, just maybe, they’re going to be taken over by evil people so secretly that we’re not going to notice and then take over us. Right?”
Dayton paused, but then said, “Pretty much, but I don’t think that’s as dumb as you’re making it sound. We know the Dominators have done it. That’s exactly what people pay them to do.” Continue reading The Power: Part 14→
As much as Sean wanted to argue, he knew better. He’d said so himself, “Yeah. You’re making it sound like you’re leaving.”
Mindstryke tapped the rollup screen and the end farthest from him rolled into the shape of a cylinder. Then the cylinder shrunk enough to fit into the pouch on his belt. “I am. The group of you need to talk about this and make a decision. This is your team and I’m not on it. You need to start making big decisions as a group and with this one you’ve at least got a few hours to think about it.” Continue reading The Power: Part 13→
Jody looked up from the rollup screen on the table, “That name does not ring a fucking bell.”
Shaking his head, Dayton said, “I don’t know who that is either.”
Sean felt sure he’d heard the name before, but he couldn’t say where or when.
Sydney spoke up while he was still thinking, “Nick’s mentioned him. We were talking one time about the Cabal and he mentioned that Martin Magnus was someone he still hadn’t figured out.” Continue reading The Power: Part 12→
With a brief hesitation, Sydney nodded, adding, “I sent it to the League’s server. You should be able to just pull it up.”
Before Sean could think, he found himself already talking, “Wait, you recorded us and put the video on the League’s server. That’s private! It’s none of their business—”
Interrupting him, she said, “It’s on my private folder on their server. I’m not sharing it with everybody—just Mindstryke. And I let the AI watch too because he was going to whether or not I said he could anyway. Besides, he said he’d help.” Continue reading The Power: Part 11→
The Legion of Nothing: A Series of Online Superhero Novels (Updates Monday and Thursday)