Tag Archives: Adam

Arc 13.2.0: Distractions

Distractions: Part 11

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Haley’s lip curled, “Then I think you need to get out of here and let us discuss it. You know that we’re not the whole League. Some of us who aren’t here are going to need a minute to talk about this.”

“Some of us who are here will too,” Cassie’s hand brushed her gun.

Adam glanced down at it, his face hidden in the shadows, but his mouth seemed to tighten, jerking into a smile, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The shadows that made up his body swirled into themselves and disappeared. Continue reading Distractions: Part 11 →

Arc 13.2.0: Distractions

Distractions: Part 10

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Cassie shook her head, “Oh, fuck no.”

“We might want to consider it,” Daniel said, looking around the group.

I knew what that meant. His loose sense of possible futures included better ones if we allied with this guy. Of course, even knowing that, Daniel would admit that inevitably in an infinity of futures, Adam would betray us in an infinite number.

But a smaller infinity, Daniel thought at me, and the sense I’m getting is that even if he does we’ll be better off than if we never allied with him. Continue reading Distractions: Part 10 →

Arc 12.2.5: Old Friends & Enemies

Old Friends & Enemies: Part 15

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The creatures from his cloak hit the Cabal soldiers and the True before they could react. The redcap landed on the back of one and chopped off his head with a long knife and held it in the air, blood still spurting from the body as the soldier fell.

It made a serious argument for the idea that a magic blade would have no trouble with the Cabal.

A dragon-like creature with a long neck, and flaming, white eyes that reminded me of ping pong balls—if the ping pong had soaked in gasoline and set on fire—dropped on top of two soldiers and bit through the body of a third, swallowing the upper half and leaving the lower half on the street with its intestines spilling out. Continue reading Old Friends & Enemies: Part 15 →

Arc 12.2.5: Old Friends & Enemies

Old Friends & Enemies: Part 14

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They both jumped at once, both of them aiming in my direction, no doubt guessing that if they could take me out, they could grab Master Martian or Daniel. Also, I was between Daniel and them.

Only as one hit me did I come up with the obvious, alternate possibility—that if one of them hit me, the other might be free to go after Daniel when he got past me.

How I managed to avoid dropping the SUV when the first one hit, I still don’t know. I understand it on the level of technology in that Grandpa had designed the suit to absorb damage and I’d expanded it with tech inspired by the jet’s inertial dampers, but I’m still amazed that I had the presence of mind to hang on as the Cabal soldier hit the suit’s chest, knocking the SUV and me backward. Continue reading Old Friends & Enemies: Part 14 →

Arc 8: Faerieland

Faerieland: Part 46

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“If you think you can do it, I’m all for it,” I said.

Alex grinned. “Trust me. I’ve seen worse, and it worked out. Now, can you take off your glove?”

I thought about it, checking my HUD for alerts. There weren’t any left. “Assuming the repair systems worked, yes.”

I used my right glove to set the left gauntlet to split and be absorbed into the left forearm. It worked. That didn’t surprise me and it shouldn’t have. It wasn’t the first time I’d tried it after all, but it was the first time I’d tried it after the suit took massive damage.

“Oh,” Haley said, staring at my hand. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 46 →

Arc 8: Faerieland

Interlude: Thawed

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Nicole stood on the front steps of the high school. Her backpack lay on the ground next to her duffel bag, which was currently filled with her soccer uniform, and a towel.

It was a warm day. It could have been summer. The grass had turned green. The trees had leaves, or at least buds. Nicole was barely noticing any of it. She was on the phone.

“My boyfriend? Mr. Noshow, you mean? He’s still not here, and soccer ended twenty minutes ago.”

Over the phone, Melissa said, “Well, he might have a good reason.”

Nicole shrugged. “If he does, he has a good reason an awful lot. I don’t think he’s ever been on time.” Continue reading Interlude: Thawed →

Arc 8: Faerieland

Faerieland: Part 6

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Nothing happened for a long time after that. I never did learn exactly how long. All I knew for sure was that I was grateful that at least I’d gotten to eat before being shut up in a doorless and windowless room.

Okay, that’s not all I knew for sure.

I also knew that my room had breathing holes. They were on both sides of the top of my cell. The cell wasn’t much more than six feet tall. I could touch the ceiling, and had during my initial few minutes inside.

I couldn’t see at all. The cell had no light. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 6 →

Arc 8: Faerieland

Faerieland: Part 4

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Wait, I thought back at him. The teachers aren’t always in the dining hall anyway. Are you sure it’s not just chance?

Pretty sure, he thought back.

Behind me, Tara had been walking with Camille and Haley. As we stepped into the dining room, Tara stopped chatting with Camille and said, “This isn’t right.”

To me at least, nothing about the dining hall seemed in any way strange. Students talked and laughed at the tables. The upperclass students mostly stuck together while the first year students took up half the room, mixing a bit with my year. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 4 →

Arc 7.9: Demo

Demo: Part 10

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“Okay,” I typed. “Keep watching them, and report—unless I’m fighting. Then only bother me if it’s bad, and it’s something I can actually change. Actually, tell anyone in the League under those conditions.”

The alert flashed. [Understood.]

I needed to encourage Hal to use a handle in the League’s comm system. Having him interact with me through the alert system didn’t make a lot of sense.

Taking my eyes off transparent letters in my helmet’s HUD, I started paying attention to everything around me again.

Amy nodded toward my hands, a gesture made a little stranger by her black and blood red helmet. “What were you doing?” Continue reading Demo: Part 10 →

Arc 7.5: Off Campus

Off Campus: Part 9

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The photographer said, “Not happening. I took those pictures. They’re mine. End of story.”

He pulled his camera with one hand, and held his left a little away from his body as if he intended to block with it. It didn’t look like he’d had any kind of martial arts training. The way he held his arm, it would come up too slowly.

Hunter asked me, “Isn’t there some kind of law against taking pictures of people like us?”

I glanced over at Haley, and she shrugged.

Continue reading Off Campus: Part 9 →