Tag Archives: Cassie

Arc 8: Faerieland

Faerieland: Part 3

7 Comments

Travis’ mouth twitched. “I’m pleading the fifth on that, but yeah, I like the idea. That might get us what we need. Do we have any other way we can find out more? Like his ex-girlfriend… Jaclyn, do you know where she is? Or what about Samita and Rod? Can’t you, I don’t know, summon up something?”

Samita’s mouth turned into a flat line. “Summoning is very dangerous. One wrong move and you could release whatever you summon into the world. Worse, depending on what you summon, you could put your life or even your soul in danger.”

Jaclyn started tapping furiously into her phone.

Vaughn looked up from whatever he’d been checking on his phone. “Hey, it doesn’t have to be something dangerous does it? I read one of those Dresden Files books, and in there the guy summons up fairies and feeds them pizza. Can’t you do something easy like that?” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 3 →

Arc 8: Faerieland

Faerieland: Part 2

11 Comments

Jaclyn shook her head, and pulled her phone out of her pocket. “That’s not what interests me. What I want to know is why he’s even bothering? What do we know about him?”

“Well,” I paused, mouth partway open, wondering if I should even say it. “I’m pretty sure he’s a client of my dad’s. My dad had a client who was a superhero, and who needed therapy after quitting. Adam’s girlfriend got killed by the mob, and he went on some kind of rampage, killing anyone remotely associated, I guess. Agent Lim got him into therapy. I don’t know why he actually stopped killing and went through with it, but he did say nice things about my dad when I talked to him once.”

Fingers already tapping out something on the screen of her phone, Jaclyn said, “His codename?”

“Dark Cloak.”

She stopped and looked up at me. “That guy? I heard about him.” Then she started tapping away again. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 2 →

Arc 8: Faerieland

Faerieland: Part 1

15 Comments

My lab felt cramped, the air warm from body heat, and my sister’s voice cut through the low murmur of people talking.

“Remember when I joked about needing an auditorium? Next time I won’t be joking.”

We’d moved my lab tables to the walls, folded them, put everything I’d been working on into boxes, and it still felt like we had no room. All the chairs had been taken, and people sat on the floor or stood next to the wall.

By people, I meant everyone in the Heroes’ League who’d come to Stapledon, plus Courtney, plus Tara, Rod, Samita, and Amy.

The monitor of my computer showed burning buildings from a distance. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 1 →

Arc 7.8: Threat Analysis

Threat Analysis: Part 5

20 Comments

Amy closed her eyes, said a few words and poked her arm. As she pulled the pin out, her face visibly paled–even in the light of a streetlight.

Haley frowned. “Are you okay?”

Amy nodded slowly. “It’s not a difficult spell, but I don’t have as much power to work with without transforming. Could all of you hold out your arms?”

Camille extended her arm halfway to Amy, asking, “What are you–”

Amy grabbed Camille’s forearm, and poked her with the pin. “This.” Continue reading Threat Analysis: Part 5 →

Arc 7.8: Threat Analysis

Threat Analysis: Part 4

8 Comments

We stayed together. Even if Izzy and Jaclyn could have been there instantaneously, it was just safer.

The park was largely empty–not completely because there were stragglers and groups that were still talking. There were also a few police officers.

Vaughn sat on the grass, his face lit by his phone’s screen. As we came closer, he turned off his phone and stared at us.

“How did you do that? We were talking and now you’re all over–”

He stopped. “Something bad just happened. I wasn’t talking to you, was I?”

Jaclyn glanced around the park. “Daniel? Izzy?”

Daniel shook his head. “Give me a second. I’m trying something.” Continue reading Threat Analysis: Part 4 →

Arc 7.7: Go Time

Go Time: Part 10

26 Comments

Vaughn shrugged. “It’s not like the Russians know it’s us. That’s the whole point of using the fake suit, right? Plus, even if they did, it’s not like the Russians are exactly friendly to the Turk… um… Turkmens? Turkmeni? Last I heard, the Russians weren’t saying anything nice about them at all. They’re not going to be sharing information. So no biggie.”

Amy shook her head. “Maybe, but you’ve got to think bigger. This isn’t just espionage. This is politics. If we had something their rulers wanted, I could easily see them telling us that they’ll tell the world that we were there.”

Cassie let out a breath. “Exactly. That’s exactly the sort of thing I’m worried about.” Continue reading Go Time: Part 10 →

Arc 7.7: Go Time

Go Time: Part 7

13 Comments

“What’s Izzy supposed to do with the Ferris wheel?”

Vaughn shrugged. “Maybe take a picture on it? I don’t know. It’s in the Guinness Book of World Records. She should do something funny with it. Maybe pretend she’s going to throw it, or stand in front of it with her armor saying ‘All your base are belong to us?'”

“Better yet,” Jaclyn said, “how about you let Izzy know that everything works and that she can bug out of there before someone starts firing missiles at her.” Continue reading Go Time: Part 7 →

Arc 7.7: Go Time

Go Time: Part 6

12 Comments

“Marcus and Sydney are waiting in the jet. They’ll be taking off soon. They’re going to shadow her from a distance—far enough away that they shouldn’t be visible, but close enough that they’re in range.”

Jaclyn leaned toward the screen, probably noticing now that the camera display program’s current tab was labeled “Blue,” but the second tab was labeled “Jet.”

I clicked on the button that showed all cameras, and the program divided the screen between Izzy’s view of the sky above South Dakota and the League jet’s much less interesting view of the airlock between the hangar and Lake Michigan.

Jaclyn pulled up a chair and sat next to me. “I didn’t know Marcus could fly the jet.”

Then she frowned. “They can’t hear us from here, right?” Continue reading Go Time: Part 6 →

Arc 7.3: Entry Assessment

Entry Assessment: Part 6

7 Comments

Gunther glanced back to the field, and then turned back toward everyone watching him. “But here’s one of the major things you need to get out of this. Fairness is completely irrelevant. This is combat. Fairness is for games. The whole situation is unfair from the beginning. You’re all a bunch of heroes in training. Chances are, you’re not trying to kill them, but they are trying to kill you. Sure, some of them won’t be. Many, even. No matter how many jewelry stores a guy breaks into, he may still have a set of morals that means he won’t kill, but you know what? That doesn’t matter.”

Despite his topic, Gunther managed to sound slightly amused.

Continue reading Entry Assessment: Part 6 →

Arc 7.3: Entry Assessment

Entry Assessment: Part 5

20 Comments

Calvin flew toward us in the air in a leap that had to be getting extra force from the wind behind him, and he wasn’t alone.

Cindy and Paula jumped after him.

It didn’t work out as well as any of them would have expected.

A beam of iridescent light hit Calvin in the air, surrounding him with sparkles that kept on glowing as he flew toward us.

Continue reading Entry Assessment: Part 5 →