Category Archives: The Legion of Nothing

Arc 6.1: Intergalactic Sherlock

Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 2

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Cassie had mentioned that he’d been feeling left out. It wasn’t as if I’d been ignoring him though. Anyway, technically I’d seen him most weeks—Stapledon program stuff every other weekend, (officially credited) Stapledon distance learning classes each week, and sometimes additional team practices midweek.

Of course, Lee had taken a couple weeks off from that recently—apparently so he could arrange accidents with blenders.

How did that even work?

“Nick?” Vaughn asked. He sounded a little irritated.

“Sorry. Lee killed a bunch of people, and I’m a little distracted.” Continue reading Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 2 →

Arc 6.1: Intergalactic Sherlock

Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 1

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Vaughn and I stood inside DePuit Hall’s lobby. Not much more than an entrance that opened into the TV room, it wasn’t as nice as anyplace I’d been for a Stapledon weekend. The dark carpet in the TV room had to be at least ten years old, and might have been pushing twenty for all I knew.

We’d happened to run into each other—almost but not quite literally.

I’d walked down to buy something at the pop machine while he happened to walk around the corner. Since the row of snack machines happened to be just around the corner, I leaned down to pick up the can of pop as he dodged me.

I stood up, and we looked at each other.

Vaughn said, “Hey, how’s it going?”

“Pretty much okay. I’m kind of surprised to see you here.” Continue reading Intergalactic Sherlock: Part 1 →

Arc 6.0: The Unusual Suspects

The Unusual Suspects: Part 7

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I thought about that. “I wonder if they can export their information into a format I can use, or if I’ll have to stay up there to look at it?”

I thought about it some more. “Never mind. The League jet’s got to be able to use standard alien file formats.”

Günther laughed. “I can’t say I thought about file formats at all.”

He glanced out the door. “I’ve got to prepare for the next class. Any other questions?”

Continue reading The Unusual Suspects: Part 7 →

Arc 6.0: The Unusual Suspects

The Unusual Suspects: Part 6

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As Dayton shut the door, I realized I was alone—not completely alone because there were people in the room. Since most of them were heading toward the door or talking quietly, however, and I was basically alone.

Günther waved me over, probably to help him put things away. We’d used rings, poles, and balls in the course of the class. The class had put them into boxes, but the boxes were still sitting on the floor.

Within a minute, he’d waved the other assistants over, and we were carrying boxes into the armory. He wasn’t carrying any.

It didn’t take long to clean up. As I put the last box inside, he walked through the door, and leaned against the wall. Continue reading The Unusual Suspects: Part 6 →

Arc 6.0: The Unusual Suspects

The Unusual Suspects: Part 5

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I didn’t ask him what the problem was. There were so many options, and it’s not as if I wanted to go into it.

Anyway, Günther started splitting up the groups as the last people walked through the door. Sean ended up in one of the groups for physically normal people. I directed a group for people with mid-level physical abilities. There’s no reason to go into detail about it except to mention that Dayton was in the group.

A big guy in a roomful of big guys, Dayton stood out not because he looked like a football player stereotype, but because he had great coordination and learned any move he saw instantly.

In the comics, you’d think that it would instantly make him the best hand to hand fighter alive. In reality, no. Continue reading The Unusual Suspects: Part 5 →

Arc 6.0: The Unusual Suspects

The Unusual Suspects: Part 4

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I pointed at the back of the chest section. “If you could pick that up and hang it on my back, it would be a lot easier.”

Tara’s gaze followed my hand, and I realized that I wasn’t doing all that well. Almost everything was in the same place. I clarified. “Uh… The piece with the rocket pack on the back. It’ll be heavier than you’d expect.”

“This?” She picked it up without a problem, and placed it on my back.

I felt the weight, and stepped backward with one foot to brace myself. Then I started plugging cables into the stealth suit, and pulling out sections of frame that the breastplate would lock into.

Tara handed me each piece of armor, and it went quickly.

Continue reading The Unusual Suspects: Part 4 →

Arc 6.0: The Unusual Suspects

The Unusual Suspects: Part 3

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I thought about that. With everything that had happened between the two of us, I still didn’t see Sean as evil. I did think he was massively, hugely messed up. From what I’d seen, his father was close to, if not actually, abusive, and had cheated on Sean’s mom with at least one person (Camille’s mom), and maybe more. Growing up with someone like that wasn’t exactly a head start.

It wasn’t a surprise then that Sean had bullied people (I wasn’t the only one). After Haley told me about how their relationship ended, I’d overheard more stories about relationships he’d had. He’d sounded controlling, and manipulative.

Considered rationally, he wasn’t the kind of person I’d want around me.

When I was honest with myself though, it wasn’t because I’d thought things through rationally that I didn’t want him around. It was because I thought he was a jerk.

Continue reading The Unusual Suspects: Part 3 →

Arc 6.0: The Unusual Suspects

The Unusual Suspects: Part 2

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In the distance, a muffled voice said, “Dad? Are you up there?” The voice sounded like it belonged to someone male and around my age.

Lim said, “I’ll be down in a second.” Looking back at the camera, he said, “Do you have anything else? I should stop working for the day.”

“Nothing,” I said. I’d never even thought about whether he had a family. He was old enough to have kids around my age, and it was easy to imagine he might be married, but it hadn’t come up.

“Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if something important happens,” he said as we hung up.

From all the places I’d seen in the background when I’d called him—spaceships, naval vessels, wilderness, and cities nowhere near Washington D.C., I wondered how often he saw his family, and how much he could say about his job.

Continue reading The Unusual Suspects: Part 2 →

Arc 6.0: The Unusual Suspects

The Unusual Suspects: Part 1

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After everything that happened, the next week went fairly normal. “Normal” is a relative term when Saturday morning of the week before included saving the world, officially taking over a superhero team, and having your mom explain that she’d voluntarily had her memory blocked for longer than you’d been alive.

Relative to that, having the media obsess about how you’d saved a city, and then letting the League’s voicemail system field thousands of calls from press around the world is normal.

Rachel and I had talked with Mom, and she’d made us promise to keep her informed of what was going on, but I don’t think either of us talked with her much during the week.

I had a lot of homework, and Rachel attended Tara’s dad’s funeral as the League’s representative. Travis went too, but not as Rachel’s date or something. He knew Tara too.

Not that you’d take a date to a funeral.

Continue reading The Unusual Suspects: Part 1 →

Arc 5.9: Spin

Spin: Part 8

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If Mom’s voice wasn’t the last one I expected to hear then, it would be hard to name a less likely one.

Ok, not that hard. Dad’s would be less likely.

Rachel turned and her eyes widened. “Mom?”

She’d been saying something to Jaclyn, but she stepped toward Mom as Jaclyn stepped out of her way. Jaclyn blinked, and muttered something to Rachel.

I missed whatever it was, and I’m not sure Rachel caught it.

Not sure where else to go, I said, “We could go to the lab. It’s over—“

Quietly, Mom said, “I know where it is.”

Given that she was down here, it made sense that she would. Given that she’d never made any reference to it during the entire rest of my life… Well, it felt a little weird. Continue reading Spin: Part 8 →