Category Archives: Arc 4.1: Haley

Arc 4.1: Haley

Haley: Part 11

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I listened from a roof top while the police talked to people, and the specialist paramedics who drove the Box sedated Laser Guy (he’d begun to wake up). Cassie talked to them. Donna told the police everything, even showing them Rod’s room inside her house. They came out carrying the bag of money he’d stolen from Chuck’s Pizza.

That was nice. It made it feel the whole night of pointless fighting had been worth something. I didn’t think three or four hundred dollars had been worth the risk I might lose control, but he didn’t deserve to get away with it either. Continue reading Haley: Part 11 →

Arc 4.1: Haley

Haley: Part 10

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When Grandpa McAllister taught us about the Change, he said, “It’s strange to say, but the war helped me with it. I got used to going deep. I got used to coming out. It’s like the torture drugs. Me and the rest of the unit spent a lot of our time behind enemy lines, so they trained us to handle torture. They tried any drugs they knew the Nazis used on us, and then when we got captured, we were ready.

“The Change is a lot like the drugs. Best thing you can do is get used to it. Go into a forest somewhere, and hunt down a deer, heck, a herd of deer. Do it enough times, and you’ll be able to come out of the deepest parts of the Change at will.”

“I don’t want to kill a deer,” I told him. “They don’t deserve that.” Continue reading Haley: Part 10 →

Arc 4.1: Haley

Haley: Part 9

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Cassie didn’t wait to find out if he’d shoot. She swung her staff at him, hitting the laser encasing his right arm with one of the electrified ends. A bunch of different things inside the casing made popping noises, and I smelled electronics burning, a smell I know a lot better now than I did before I started dating Nick.

Laser Guy started doing what most of the League calls, “the lightning dance.” That’s when you get shocked, and it’s enough to make you flail around, but not enough to knock you out. I don’t know who started saying it, but between Rachel’s gloves, Cassie’s staff, and Vaughn’s lightning, there are way too many people flinging electricity around during team practices. I’ve been hit more than I want to think about. It’s irritating, and it hurts. Continue reading Haley: Part 9 →

Arc 4.1: Haley

Haley: Part 8

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I hung upside down outside of Donna’s house, waiting for Cassie to knock on their door.

The final plan had turned out to be Cassie’s with a few tweaks, and maybe not enough, but there’s a lot to be said for simple plans. You don’t have as much to think about. Not that that automatically meant it was a good plan, but it was still better than a great plan I couldn’t remember.

Quietly I hung to the side of the window, slowly turning the little pieces of metal that held the screen in. I couldn’t remember their names. The house had the old style of screen windows. Modern screen windows let you control whether you have the screen or the storm window from the inside. In the old style (and I mean really old, like the 1920’s), you swapped the screen window out for the storm window when spring came.

So I was loosening the screen window so that I could crawl through if I had to. It seemed nicer than punching a hole in the wall or knocking down their back door. Beating up a little girl’s uncle would be bad enough. I didn’t want her to have to sleep in a hotel too. Continue reading Haley: Part 8 →

Arc 4.1: Haley

Haley: Part 6

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“I call him Laser Guy because he’s got lasers under his arms.”

Cassie said, “Armpit lasers?”

She thought she was funny. That’s the kind of thing that drives me a little crazy about Cassie. She’s totally intense one minute and then the next minute she’s making jokes. It’s not that I have a problem with jokes, but sometimes I don’t want to laugh. It doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel respectful.

“Big lasers, CC. Car melting lasers. We’re not going to be able to just jump him. Anyway, I can’t talk now. Find me, but stay out of sight. I’ll tell you when you can catch up.”

“Got it. I’ll be there before you know it.” Continue reading Haley: Part 6 →

Arc 4.1: Haley

Haley: Part 5

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I fired a grappling gun while I was still falling, and I didn’t do it right away. I waited, and I shot at the next building over—another big, brick building—and let the rope turn me until I was above the semi-truck. Then I let out the line until I was just a few feet above it, set the gun to release it’s hold, holstered it, and dropped.

It was almost perfect. Continue reading Haley: Part 5 →

Arc 4.1: Haley

Haley: Part 4

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The dumpster flew through the air, blocking him from my view. He didn’t have a chance to avoid it.

That’s what I hate about the Change. I just do stuff before I can even think about it. It’s not that I do bad things. I do things that I would do, but without thinking about it at all.

And that’s not quite true. I know why I did it while I’m doing it, but I can’t always put it into words.

I couldn’t put it into words then either. All I knew was that unless he was more than just a guy with laser arms, the dumpster would turn him into a red smear ending in crushed bones and meat. Continue reading Haley: Part 4 →

Arc 4.1: Haley

Haley: Part 3

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Changing into costume on the roof of a pizzeria isn’t a good idea, but it’s better than changing in the parking lot.

After everything that happened during the end of my junior year, maybe I should have been wearing my costume under my clothes all the time, but I didn’t. Summers are hot, and we were already into the middle of July.

I stayed low, pulled my costume out of my backpack, and stuffed my clothes inside, hoping that no one was working late in one of the old, brick buildings across the street.

I pulled my costume’s pants most of the way on before the Change hit. Continue reading Haley: Part 3 →