Victor’s mouth opened without saying anything. He closed it, sighed, but asked, “Do you think it’s possible?”
I looked over at Cassie, who’d frowned but then started talking, “It depends. We’d need to make sure our birthing chamber has the right templates available. I’d say yes if we had the one you’d used. We all know what happened to that one, though.”
Over the implant channel, Sean asked, “What happened?”
“It’s not in working order,” I said. Continue reading Stage Three: Part 4
Art had all of Haley’s power plus Magnus’ power-up, but he was carrying Jody. Haley didn’t have anything extra beyond her costume and now an implant.
Art had landed first and was already beginning to run across the lawn toward the street—probably trying to get far enough from the tower that the Nine could teleport him out.
Using my implant’s connection to Haley’s suit, I fired off a series of bots. I’d put a handful into other people’s armor, thinking that it would be better to have a few available for clutch moments. Continue reading Regression: Part 25
I adjusted my foot position and felt my feet shift naturally. Whatever “neutralization” turned out to be, it had worked.
I knew “Counterattack” had not come into play yet because Scream Eagle’s claws were now swinging in my direction. Possibly worse, the circle of metal was reforming in the air behind him.
He hadn’t seen my feet shift or recognized what it meant, though. I stepped back, swinging through his arms with the lightning sword. The sword didn’t chop them off, but I did feel resistance as I swung through the space. Continue reading Regression: Part 24
The funny thing was that I had a plan for this. Scream Eagle wasn’t the first person I’d ever met with the ability to control technology. The first person I’d met was Carlos, the son of a super in the SoCal Defenders unit.
I’d tested my armor design with him at one point to see how hard it would be to defend against it. It turned out to be pretty hard in fact, but I’d at least developed strategies to fight against it. Continue reading Regression: Part 23
The circle of rotating metal doom in the air fell apart as Scream Eagle shot across the room, knocking into a section of shelving as he took off. A bunch of things fell, most of them glittering. They might have been trophies.
One of them looked like a YouTube award. I didn’t even know they had a channel.
Also, speakers around the room had started blasting music. I didn’t have time to pay attention, but it sounded like reggae, something about “one love.” Continue reading Regression: Part 22
Camille saw him, but she was still trying to slow Scream Eagle down and didn’t have time to drop that to increase the gravity around Art.
Plus, again, in this small space, he moved as quickly as Jaclyn would have. She didn’t have time to do anything before he stabbed her with the palm claw in his right hand.
Art’s next move was to dive and roll past Julie, sinking the palm claw of his left hand into her thigh through her armor. As she fell, he turned toward the back of the room where Zola faced Haley, Sydney, Dayton, Daniel, and Jody’s unconscious body.
Well, sort of. Zola had been busy too. Continue reading Regression: Part 20
As I flew toward the open windows, my implant summarized the feed from the tower to the degree it could—a series of pictures.
Scream Eagle rose toward the windows, gaining speed despite Camille’s control over gravity. A flash from Haley’s cam showed sweat on Camille’s brow, fists clenched, and mouth in a thin line.
Sean and Vaughn, meanwhile, were doing what they could. Sean whirled a circle of metal balls with enough speed that they turned into a ring reflecting the light of the sun and the room’s fluorescent lights. I’d seen what he could do with them. They made a highly mobile circular saw that could cut through more than you’d think. When used with his power, even if they shattered, he could continue to cut with the dust. Continue reading Regression: Part 19
Amnesia Angel’s wings faded away, replaced by nothing—no glowing wings, no feathered wings, just holes for wings in the back of their costume where the wings had emerged.
The holes inadvertently answered another question I’d had, revealing a bit of bra strap. That didn’t necessarily reveal the person’s internal sense of their gender, but statistically speaking, it would most of the time.
Anyway, I didn’t have time to ask pronouns at that moment because she (?) was more than 50 feet in the air, powerless, and either dead or unconscious. Continue reading Regression: Part 16
The bad news? Amy had zero chance of telling me everything I needed in the next few seconds.
Considering Amnesia Angel’s speed, I doubted I’d have seconds. They rushed me, sword out and slashing.
I twisted to avoid them, giving the rockets extra power and hoping the reaction time I’d saved by sending commands to the Rocket suit through my implant made a difference.
It did, but not enough. I felt pain in my thigh, burning but not unbearable. A glance downward showed no physical damage, the follow-through of the angel’s blade missing my right leg. Continue reading Regression: Part 14
Almost as he hit the floor, I stepped on his cyborg arm, and not in the casual, “I’m holding it down and I’m not going you move it,” sense. I stepped on his arm more in a, “finishing move,” sense.
My booted foot hit with enough force to shatter concrete and armored forearms along with it. The armor around Rook’s forearm bent and cracked, revealing machinery, wires, circuit boards in reinforced protective cages, and below the forearm the barrel of Rook’s Abominator energy weapon with its batteries and tech that made my implant activate and all but scream for attention. Continue reading Mere Anarchy: Part 31