Tag Archives: Cassie

Arc 5.9: Spin

Spin: Part 1

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Haley landed the jet in the parking lot between the storage building and the factory.

We’d arrived less than an hour before, and aside from a little debris from the bombs, it didn’t look much different. It was lighter (past the factories and warehouses, the eastern sky glowed), and the tornado sirens were still going, but it was close to the same.

An inch of snow still covered the ground, and the temperature felt cold—if not as cold as Michigan.

For that matter, all the buildings that had been standing when we arrived were still standing. The ones that weren’t visible from here.

Still, it felt like we’d been there a week.

Continue reading Spin: Part 1 →

Arc 5.8: Chance & Fate

Chance & Fate: Part 11

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Tapping my fingers on my palms, I brought up our group’s location. Daniel and Izzy’s location came up as “Unknown”—which didn’t necessarily mean that they were dead. It could mean that the bomb had kicked out enough of an EMP that it killed their comms.

For that matter, if their signal came through, I realized, it didn’t necessarily mean that they were alive.

The thought that I needed to include people’s health in the next iteration didn’t distract me enough. I was still aware that Izzy and Daniel might both be dead or near to it.

The bombs weren’t nuclear, but they obviously included materials that I wasn’t familiar with. Even if they were only briefly radioactive or poisonous, they could still kill.

Then Daniel and Izzy’s status flickered from red to green. A good sign.

Continue reading Chance & Fate: Part 11 →

Arc 5.8: Chance & Fate

Chance & Fate: Part 9

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“Storm King, are you ready?”

Vaughn didn’t seem to hear me at first, but as I was about to ask again, he said, “Almost, it’s hard to get the position right—unless you want it to suck us up too?”

“I’m against that.” I eyed Camille, realizing that I didn’t know her codename if she had one. “Hey, are you ready to float them upward?”

She nodded, taking a breath as she did it. I hoped she wasn’t already too tired to manage it. I wondered if we shouldn’t have had Vaughn create a tornado around the storage building from the beginning. Then Camille could have been backup if the bombs escaped.

She wouldn’t have the strength to do much after this.

Continue reading Chance & Fate: Part 9 →

Arc 5.8: Chance & Fate

Chance & Fate: Part 8

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“So, do you think you can handle it, or if it even needs to be handled right now?”

Daniel went quiet. Then he said, “I just swept the area telepathically, and at least five of them are awake. Plus, even though my precognitive ability is pretty vague, I get the sense that the bomb’s going to take out the city if we don’t attack. Actually, I think it’s got a good chance of going off if we do, but it’s inevitable if we don’t.”

In the background, I heard Izzy say, “Have him call the Defenders.”

She was completely correct. This was exactly when we needed to call in the Defenders.

“Did you hear that?” Daniel spoke quietly.

“Got it. Just a second.” Continue reading Chance & Fate: Part 8 →

Arc 5.8: Chance & Fate

Chance & Fate: Part 6

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I had the jet’s scanner zoom in on the storage building, specifically on the objects inside. Flat discs approximately the thickness of tires lay on top of each other, arranged in the shapes of cylinders.

From the picture, the building appeared to be about seventy-five percent full. It wasn’t hard to calculate either. The building was rectangular.

I wondered exactly what that worked out to in terms of discs.

I zoomed in further, trying to zero in on one specific disc.

From behind me, Vaughn asked, “So, what’s in there?”

“I’m trying to figure that out,” I said, trying not to sound annoyed. Continue reading Chance & Fate: Part 6 →

Arc 5.8: Chance & Fate

Chance & Fate: Part 3

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“I hadn’t asked him… I haven’t asked anyone.”

Cassie’s voice rose as she talked. “Well, don’t skip him. I told you he’s been feeling left out.”

“Ok. I won’t. You told me about that.”

As the words escaped my mouth, I realized that I’d committed to bringing him along—which meant I ought to call him.

“Good,” Cassie said. “Are you going to let him know, or should I?”

“I’ll do it,” I said. “Do you have anything else? I should probably call him now.” Continue reading Chance & Fate: Part 3 →

Arc 5.8: Chance & Fate

Chance & Fate: Part 2

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Jeremy hung up his towel inside his closet, and said, “Is this major?”

I didn’t know I was that easy to read.

I looked away from the computer, and up at him as he stopped next to my desk.

“Seriously,” he asked, “How big?”

And the crazy thing was, I really could tell him. Daniel had telepathically blocked him from passing on information to anyone outside the League.

On the other hand, the less he knew, the better. If Daniel didn’t maintain it, the mental construct would dissolve on its own eventually.

Continue reading Chance & Fate: Part 2 →

Arc 5.7: Doom

Doom: Part 4

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Cassie sat back on her bed, leaning back against the pillow. “So, when’s it going to be ready?”

“Uh…” I thought about that while the suit continued to post messages about testing the systems.

“Well, there are a couple different issues. The first one’s easy. The second is going to depend on you. See, first off, I need to get the suit’s boot up time down to something reasonable. Right now you can get it on in maybe a minute, but by the time it’s done testing everything, twenty minutes have gone by.”

Her eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? That’s worse than when you put the suit on by hand.”

Continue reading Doom: Part 4 →

Arc 5.7: Doom

Doom: Part 3

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Once I was off the call with Rachel, I checked the time, and it was seven-fifty something, so I walked toward the lab.

I would have gone there from the beginning if I’d thought it through. I wasn’t quite finished with Cassie’s suit, but I was almost finished, so if I was in the lab when I talked to her, I’d be able to show it to her more easily.

This was great logic, but it didn’t account for one possibility—that Cassie might call a little early—which she did.

I heard the phone ringing from both directions—behind me at the main table, and ahead of me in the lab.

I broke into a run, crossing the old, olive green carpet, dodging forty years worth of the original League’s mementoes, trophies, and awards in their cases. As I did it, I remembered that I’d left my socks and shoes in front of a register in the main room.

Obviously, I wasn’t going back for them, but the lab didn’t have carpet at all.

Continue reading Doom: Part 3 →

Arc 5.4: Picking Up Pieces

Picking Up Pieces: Part 11

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Cassie noticed the men, frowned, and said, “Let’s go into my room.”

We walked upstairs. I couldn’t help but remember other times I’d been inside, most of them during the summer before we’d reformed the League. Cassie had been on bed rest after the treatments that activated her powers. I hadn’t known it at the time. I’d just thought she was sick.

I’d helped her gather everyone for movie nights while wondering if she’d make it through the summer.

Even then it hadn’t been a cluttered house. It always felt clean and orderly, but a little like a hotel. Her mom commuted to Washington D.C. a lot and had hired people to keep it clean.

Sure, her cover as a realtor had never been blown, but I’d always wondered if adding a little mess to the house might have helped.

Continue reading Picking Up Pieces: Part 11 →