Both reporters, Alissa and whoever the other reporter behind her was, didn’t seem to notice the Atoner’s comment because they were still looking past him where they were seeing Mistress Madness strolling out of the door. She stopped to check the lobby behind her.
Not seeing anyone following us out of the hole we’d made in the floor, she joined the rest of the group, smirking as she turned around.
I couldn’t help but think that it might have been wiser for her to hurry. Given what happened downstairs, I couldn’t be sure that part of the building wasn’t about to collapse. Continue reading Older Enemies: Part 3→
I’d have argued with him except that Rook was just a picture on a cellphone screen.
Pausing, possibly to smirk behind his beaked helmet, Rook continued, “We’ve let the Heroes’ League alone despite our conflicts in the last few years. Why? Because we don’t want to kill a bunch of kids.”
We left. It would have been stupid not to, not to mention more than a little unkind to our backup that, past careers notwithstanding, was risking their lives for an information-gathering mission that had turned into something much bigger.
Jaclyn jumped up, crashing through the floor and then jumping back down to grab Izzy before jumping up again. Cassie didn’t even have time to say, “I could have taken out the floor for you,” though she tried. Continue reading Older Enemies: Part 1→
It wasn’t all bad news though, because even if Izzy was out, Jaclyn wasn’t. In a blur, she ran out from behind a group of crates, grabbed Izzy, and disappeared before the True could do anything. White light hit the spot where they’d been.
After all that Izzy and Jaclyn had done and the damage they’d taken, I probably was the person most ready to take point. The Rocket suit might not be in perfect shape, but I could take a few shots from the True I knew had to be up there.
Of course, Cassie was already moving. She jumped through the hole in the ceiling even as I aimed myself in that direction. I shot off a bot to scout as she passed me because I wanted to know what was up there if I could. Continue reading Underground Tower: Part 11→
I aimed my sonics at Ana’s suit. Even though firing them off was something of a crapshoot and you never knew what you’d damage, you generally damaged something, sometimes even something important. Given that Ana’s suit was no longer protected by either stasis or a force field, I had a real chance now.
Despite that, it didn’t spark, blow smoke, or stop moving.
It touched the plate, the silvery color wobbling at the edges and then I let more energy through, wondering how long I’d be able to keep it going and how large I could make it. It’s not that I hadn’t experimented, but there was a difference between expanding a mote to include a desk or sphere of air versus an object attached to a person who might choose to move.
What was disappointing though, was how the force field regenerated before my eyes in an instant. Noticing that, I swerved to the right, whipping around her toward the wall behind her with the idea that I’d be able to go around her back.
For a change, an idea that struck me as questionable even as I put it into practice worked. The force field generated a pseudopod and struck at me except this time it missed, possibly because she didn’t have as wide a perspective in her helmet or possibly because I’d moved too quickly. Continue reading Underground Tower: Part 8→
As Ana ran for me, her suit’s color changed, turning silver—which told me a lot. First, that all of thesuits might be able to turn on stasis and second, that they didn’t do it all the time. If I had to guess, that would be because it sucked power—which meant that we might be able to outlast them.
It made me wonder if it was possible to power a plate of armor with a battery that was inside the plate. In theory, assuming it stopped time in the right moment, that could last forever. The fact that they didn’t seem to be doing it that way indicated that it was more complicated than I assumed. Continue reading Underground Tower: Part 7→
Feeling the rockets throw me forward, I weaved through the air, doing my best to be hard to hit, knowing that the True could predict my moves before I made them—if they had enough information.
Half of the True ran forward, but only on this side of the room. It made flying across the room and following the far wall seem like the best option except that the True would be trying to trick me into a bad choice. Flying across the room would allow the whole group more time to fire at me and flying next to the far wall would do more of the same. Continue reading Underground Tower: Part 6→
The Legion of Nothing: A Series of Online Superhero Novels (Updates Monday and Thursday)
