Tag Archives: Bullet

Arc 12.2.5: Old Friends & Enemies

Old Friends & Enemies: Part 3

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Bullet stopped wiping his face, “Who was she really? Do you know?”

“No,” Daniel continued to watch him, “we were hoping you might know. We’re guessing she’s one of the Dominators.”

Looking over at Daniel, Bullet stuffed his handkerchief back in his pants pocket, “I’m going to kill her.”

“You don’t know where she is,” Tara said, her voice level and controlled. “You haven’t seen her since and you haven’t been looking because she controlled you so completely that you never tried. What makes you think that you could?” Continue reading Old Friends & Enemies: Part 3 →

Arc 12.2.5: Old Friends & Enemies

Old Friends & Enemies: Part 2

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This wasn’t a good time to ask. Or, thinking about it some more, it struck me that it might be. I could save asking about Adam until the end, just before Tara brought up something if she was going to do that. If he kicked us out at that point, we wouldn’t lose anything.

It might not be the best way to look at it, but it was at least practical. Plus, I felt confident that Tara thought the same way.

You’re right on that one even without telepathy, Daniel told me. Except for Yoselin, we’re all on the same page. Continue reading Old Friends & Enemies: Part 2 →

Arc 12.2.5: Old Friends & Enemies

Old Friends & Enemies: Part 1

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Bullet frowned, either at the hint of an accent in her voice or because he had no idea who Yoselin was. Maybe both. He didn’t linger on it, though, opening the door for all of us.

We stepped into one side of the big windowed room we’d seen from the outside. It extended into the second story with a walkway going around the edges and another extending across to the other side. While the architect might have intended it to be a living room, I could see hints of another purpose in the layout.

Two long couches and a few freestanding chairs pointed in a rough “V” shape toward the large TV at the front of the room. It could pass as the briefing room of a large team. Noting the number of gaming consoles and controllers on top of the coffee table in front of the TV, I had to bet that it was a younger team. Continue reading Old Friends & Enemies: Part 1 →

Arc 12.2.0: Memories

Memories: Part 10

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Bullet said nothing for a few seconds, but then added, “Yes. I’m part of another project now, but it’s one that I think you may already know about. I’ll send you the location. You can visit whenever you like, but give us some warning.”

I noted the “us” as he talked and wondered if I should ask more, but decided not to, “Sure. Today’s okay, right? We could be there before noon, depending on where you are.”

“That will work. Send us your ETA once you know. You can land your jet on the lawn.” Continue reading Memories: Part 10 →

Arc 12.2.0: Memories

Memories: Part 7

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Over the team radio channel, Bullet muttered, “Give me the okay and I’ll turn the freak into Swiss cheese.”

Len jumped over a pile of snow, landing less than ten feet behind Master Martian. “You know the policy and you know why.”

In  October of 1954, the Feds came to an unofficial agreement with the superheroes of the period, agreeing to leave them alone as long as the body count didn’t get too high. My grandfather had told me about the negotiations. As the highest-profile team of the day, the Heroes’ League had to be there. Continue reading Memories: Part 7 →

Arc 12.2.0: Memories

Memories: Part 6

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Cassie caught my eye and grinned, “And I’d gotten so used to Nick having the ‘normal’ family.”

I raised my eyebrow, “Normal? Rachel’s currently flying around in space without a spacesuit. Plus, my grandparents were not normal at all at least on one side.”

“Yeah,” Cassie said, “but Daniel’s whole family is full of telepaths. Jaclyn’s older brothers have the same powers she does. Vaughn’s uncle was basically Lex Luthor and his grandfather was Red Lightning—“

Vaughn talked over her, “And Haley’s family owns a lot of pizza places. Some of them offer anchovies. Definite supervillain material there.” Continue reading Memories: Part 6 →

Arc 5.5: Rachel in Infinity City, Area 551

Rachel in Infinity City: Part 1

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Grandma Vander Sloot told me about the city, how it existed simultaneously in an infinity of alternate dimensions, how an alley could lead you somewhere Kaiser Wilhelm and Germany won World War I, and you might meet the version of yourself that lived there.

She told me about the people imprisoned there, exiles from too many universes to name.

You’d think a place like that might put you in mind of Victorian Gothic novels—Wuthering Heights’ moors and ghosts, a decaying aristocracy, and their uneducated, superstitious servants.

If you did expect that, it would only be the first of a long list of disappointments. Continue reading Rachel in Infinity City: Part 1 →

Arc 4.4: TBD

TBD: Part 4

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“Now,” he said, “the first two years will be mostly classes, but in the third year your classes will include internships with nearby superheroes or superhero teams. The summers starting in your second year will all be intense physical training, and—”

The sound of someone clearing her throat sounded, audible everywhere in the conference room, but not unbearably loud. Just as obviously, it hadn’t come from the speakers near the front of the room.

Continue reading TBD: Part 4 →

Arc 4.4: TBD

TBD: Part 3

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Bullet scanned the crowd, all of us sitting there and watching him, and continued. “For you to understand this, we’re going to have to step back for a second and review some things that everybody thinks they know, and then I’ll tell you which ones are really true.

“Everybody knows that the Heroes League claimed to be fighting aliens in 1970’s. Some people think the aliens were faked by the government. Some even think they were really aliens, but they were hired by the government. Either way, everyone knows there are superheroes who claim to be aliens even though they look a lot like humans.”

That was all too true. The “alien” heroes I’d seen on TV could have been faked by a good special effects department. All they needed were prosthetic foreheads, pointy ears, oddly colored makeup, and weird teeth.

They’d look at least as real as anything on Star Trek. Continue reading TBD: Part 3 →

Arc 4.4: TBD

TBD: Part 2

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Sean didn’t have any real reason to be bothered. It wasn’t as if everyone worshiped me or something. I knew people, you know? Some I knew better than others. Some I liked better than others.

I’d met a lot of supers without ever trying to, and I’m pretty inoffensive, so no one had anything much against me.

I could see where it might be a comedown for him though. He was pretty popular in high school.

It probably wouldn’t last. He was good looking, and even charming from what I’d been told. I’d never noticed it myself. Continue reading TBD: Part 2 →