Tag Archives: Cassie

Arc 14.6.0: Stage Two

Stage Two: Part 1

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“Nick?” Haley’s voice sounded in my head courtesy of our implants.

“I’m okay,” I said, still feeling the heat.

“For two more hits,” she said, because she could check my vitals and armor stats just like everyone else could. With our implant-to-armor connection, all we had to do was think about it, and we knew.

“And no one else has as much armor on as you do,” she said. “We need to take it down now.”

My armor noted that repairs were in process and that it was increasing protection against energy weapons. That was nice to see. It was a recent update, and I’d been worried it might not kick in soon enough when I needed it. Continue reading Stage Two: Part 1 →

Arc 14.5.5: Stage One

Stage One: Part 1

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My alarm rang too early, if I could call it ringing. My implant woke me by ending my sleep cycle and bringing me to consciousness the way my body would have if I’d gotten a full night’s sleep and woke as dawn’s first light entered the room.

That wasn’t going to happen here. We were in a bunker with no windows and lots of concrete. The closest the room came to color was the dark red carpet in the section of the main room where we held meetings, and Control followed our suits’ feeds. Continue reading Stage One: Part 1 →

Arc 14.5.0: Bigger Things

Bigger Things: Part 3

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Everyone tensed, a reasonable response, given that I’d told them that the end of the world was on its way and that my social skills might be the only thing standing in the way of planetary destruction.

Jaclyn responded to me first, thinking back, “Coming to meet you or coming to kill you?”

I shrugged, “That remains to be seen, but Kee thought he’d be interested in meeting because to the degree that I’m an Artificer, I’m descended from Nataw, his brother. He was also a friend of Lee, but he probably feels a bit betrayed by him. So, mentioning that is to be avoided.”

Haley looked up at me and thought, “And he could randomly show up at any time? Anything we do could be interrupted and then—BOOM—end of the world?” Continue reading Bigger Things: Part 3 →

Arc 14.4.5: Regression

Regression: Part 18

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The sonic booms caused ripples in the golden glow around Artemis and shattered windows in the buildings around Justice Fist’s base.

Within a block of us,  a car alarm had gone off (maybe more than one), but, in the whirlwind of combat, that could have been a side effect of Power Burst’s scream attack on Cassie. It was hard to know.

That would have been interesting enough, but in addition, Jaclyn’s fist slammed into the filmy, golden shield around Artemis. This time, the shield threw out flashes of gold along with a blast of static in combination with another boom. Continue reading Regression: Part 18 →

Arc 14.4.5: Regression

Regression: Part 17

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I aimed myself toward Jaclyn and Artemis, firing off six goobots as I did, aiming three at Artemis and the other three at Power Burst. Any distraction at all might help Izzy.

I wasn’t the only one with that thought.

As Power Burst dived toward the new crater created by Izzy hitting the ground, a beam from Cassie’s gun struck him. My HUD dimmed the light, but from the readouts, I could tell that she hadn’t been aiming to blind. Continue reading Regression: Part 17 →

Arc 14.4.5: Regression

Regression: Part 15

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Was I willing to take a wound to take the angel out? I had a bad feeling that the right blow might kill me. Fighting with swords that arguably attacked your “soul” seemed like it might have different rules, and I hadn’t learned them yet.

That also meant that everything I’d learned about how to avoid killing my opponent also couldn’t be trusted.

Right now, I’d have to go with whatever worked. Continue reading Regression: Part 15 →

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 14

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Within seconds of that conversation, I’d landed and so had not only Daniel and Izzy, but we’d also been joined by Sean, Dayton, Camille, Sydney, Vaughn, and Haley. Jaclyn had already been on the ground, of course.

Cassie, Julie, and Rachel all opted to stay on the roofs of the buildings around Justice Fist’s base. It wasn’t a bad idea. For all we knew, Jody had signaled for help. Someone needed to be in position to act.

Upon landing (Justice Fist seemed to have metal woven into their costumes), Dayton looked around the yard and said, “Wow. What a mess.” Continue reading Jody: Part 14 →

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 12

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My next observation was how easy it was to underestimate Jody’s speed. He went from almost stopped to moving away from Jaclyn nearly too fast to track.

I say nearly because my implant tracked him, and more to the point, so could Jaclyn’s.

She moved in his direction, aiming a kick toward his knee. I couldn’t see if she missed, but deduced it from how he could still run. Continue reading Jody: Part 12 →

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 8

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“Okay,” I said, “I’ll be ready then.”

The next hour was dominated by inserting implants into people. It wasn’t much work, but the egg didn’t spit out implants instantly. It made one at a time and each had to be physically manufactured, loaded with software, and tested.

While I could describe the process in a sentence, each word encompassed thousands of actions, all of them culminating in a device that hooked into the body as, for all practical purposes, a secondary brain—a support brain, maybe? Continue reading Jody: Part 8 →

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 7

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In less time than I expected (no more than twenty minutes), my implant notified me, “Project complete. The implant constructor will now create Xiniti implants.”

I thought back, “Including citizen implants? Not just local auxiliary?”

“There is no functional difference except in the information provided and access permissions. Should an auxiliary become a citizen, the changes will require downloads, not physical replacement.” Continue reading Jody: Part 7 →