Monthly Archives: May 2012

Arc 4.9: What She Asked For

What She Asked For: Part 1

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There were other people to ask, or so I learned on Sunday night. Haley wasn’t mad exactly, but she wasn’t happy either.

“There’s me, and Marcus, and Kayla too. She’s staff, but she’s still part of the team.”

We were in League HQ, but not the main room. After getting back around seven, I’d gone to the lab to recheck the modifications I’d made to the main Rocket suit over the summer, and then start looking over our power impregnator.

Someday soon, I’d have to modify the spare suits, but not tonight.

Continue reading What She Asked For: Part 1 →

Arc 4.8: Being Watched

Being Watched: Part 6

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After we finished talking, Lee said, “The advanced class is coming in soon. I’d have you stay except you’re already going to stick out.”

“I am?”

“You’ve been training with me for years. You’ll stick out. Oh… And by the way, bring the full suit next time. You’ll need the protection.”

“Yeah?”

“Count on it.”

Not long after that, I walked out of the door, finding a group of ten people waiting outside. Continue reading Being Watched: Part 6 →

Arc 4.8: Being Watched

Being Watched: Part 5

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He’d never told anyone exactly what he was, but when Lee took a form, it became near impossible to think of him by any name but the one he’d chosen.

Gunther smiled at us, a wide grin full of white teeth.

Picking up a long spear from the pile of weapons in front of him, he said, “Today we’re going to talk about the Greek phalanx—not because I expect you to fight with spears, but because of what it represents.

“The Greeks, and most armies that were any good, fought as a group, not as a bunch of heroes who happened to be on the same side. They had shields that covered themselves and the man next to them.

“Sometimes you’ll be in that situation. Sometimes you’ll be fighting enemies alone. What I intend to teach you is when to fight in formation, when not to, and when to avoid fighting at all. I’m told that other people will talk about loyalty, duty, courage and other values you’ll need to live up to, but let’s be honest, that’s not my field.” Continue reading Being Watched: Part 5 →

Arc 4.8: Being Watched

Being Watched: Part 4

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Jaclyn shook her head. Knowing how Grandpa was treated at the beginning of the war, I’m the last person who should be saying, “Don’t worry about it, the government will do the right thing in the end,” but do you know that they won’t?

I considered it. I don’t. Honestly, I really think they will eventually, but I don’t know how long that’ll be, and well, you know about Lee and everything. If that’s Abominator tech, it’s likely to be booby trapped.

I sensed confusion from Izzy.

Who’s Lee?

Oops. I hadn’t meant to pass that on. I felt a pulse of worry from Jaclyn. Continue reading Being Watched: Part 4 →

Arc 4.8: Being Watched

Being Watched: Part 2

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“Great,” Cassie said, “Is he a Nazi too?”

“Dunno,” I said, and tapped away at the computer, heading for the Feds’ supers database.

Vaughn said, “Aren’t you the guy who knows this stuff? You’re on the Double V forums all the time.”

“Well, yeah, but I don’t know everything. The Nine keep a low profile. Everybody knows they do stuff because sometimes they take credit for things, but they employ supers, and they’re an organization. So when supers show up, you never know if it’s one of the higher ups or some mid-level guy.”

I watched as our system passed our key, and then got an encrypted response from the other server. When it verified that it came from the Feds, we could assume that we’d logged into the real server instead of some impostor.

A little later, I’d searched out the Nine’s entry. I displayed it on HQ’s twenty foot tall screen. Continue reading Being Watched: Part 2 →

Arc 4.8: Being Watched

Being Watched: Part 1

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On Monday night, Vaughn, Cassie, and I sat together in “Criminology 101.” We weren’t alone. Julie and Shannon were with us.

We sat in a darkened room, looked up at the screen, and watched the professor talk. This would have been normal for a distance learning class except for a few details. First, we were sitting in League HQ. We could have been sitting in a room at the University, but then we’d have been sitting together with Sean, Dayton, and Jody.

It would have been a little awkward for all of us in a variety of different ways. Awkward for me, because Sean and I didn’t get along especially well. Awkward for Cassie and Vaughn, because they were friends of mine and knew Sean. Awkward for Julie and Shannon, because they had been on a team with Sean. Continue reading Being Watched: Part 1 →

Arc 4.7: Taking Control

Taking Control: Part 5

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Isaac turned his head to look down the hall—or so I assumed. The gray wall on my screen could just as easily have been outside.

“That’s a lot of questions, and I’m in the middle of something. We’ll have to make this quick.

In the background a series of baritone horn blasts sounded. An alarm?

“Do you have to go?”

“No. It’s been like this for the last hour here. Let’s try to cover what we can…

Continue reading Taking Control: Part 5 →

Arc 4.7: Taking Control

Taking Control: Part 4

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Melanie shook her head, “You all heard about that prom, right?”

“I was there,” Courtney said, sounding annoyed.

Michelle, confused, said, “I’m not from here. I’m from Traverse City, so if something special happened, I don’t know about it.”

“You heard about it,” I said. “It’s the one where a guy turned into a monster and attacked people in the gym, and the Heroes League took him out?”

“Oh,” she said, sounding shocked, “that prom. They were talking about it on the news for weeks. That was when people started using that… power juice stuff?”

Right there I guessed that Courtney hadn’t told Michelle that Keith had been the guy who got famous for demonstrating power juice, breaking his arm in the process. I felt sure she wouldn’t thank me for explaining it either.

Continue reading Taking Control: Part 4 →