Tag Archives: Courtney

Arc 14.9.5: Reality Tweaks

Reality Tweaks: Part 10

11 Comments

It was good that Stephanie was up for saying hi. The last I’d seen her, she’d been in no condition to do much of anything thanks to Dominator trigger commands.

Of course, she’d now been removed from the triggering situation for days. So, she might not be affected.

I set my implant to remind me to respond to Courtney later. Thanks to Hal sending out messages to more than one hundred heroes and groups in my name, I had several times that many responses. Thanks to Hal, most of them wouldn’t need a personal response, but a few deserved it.

One of them was from Prentkos. Continue reading Reality Tweaks: Part 10 →

Arc 14.9.5: Reality Tweaks

Reality Tweaks: Part 9

6 Comments

We didn’t talk after that. At any rate, we didn’t talk much. People leaned back in their seats and napped or at least closed their eyes. I would have too if I hadn’t been flying the plane.

In the end, it wasn’t a long trip. I took the jet up to a high altitude and then aimed the jet downward toward Grand Lake.

We didn’t have any trouble with intercepting planes, missiles, or paranoid supers. Instead, we dropped into the lake, entered through the underwater entrance, and emerged in the base.

After the water drained from the airlock, I floated the jet into the hangar.  Continue reading Reality Tweaks: Part 9 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 20

16 Comments

I flew past the hotel, a thirty-three-floor needle of mirrored glass that stood near a parking structure to its left and a rust colored 19th century building to its right—though a path that led to an old bridge stood between them.

I might be ready to disappear to an alternate world, but maybe I could do something.

The dinos swarmed down the wide sidewalk overlooking the river, but without the enthusiasm, I’d seen before. A few of them pointed at me and shrunk closer to the building. Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 20 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 13

16 Comments

Shadow and Voice led me over to the locker rooms to change. If you’re imagining a futuristic locker room, stop.

It looked like the locker room of every high school sports team in the United States—rows of toilet stalls with metal dividers for privacy. A roomful of metal lockers for each person on the team and wooden benches for people to sit. The far end of the room opened into a tiled room with showers.

I read the names on the lockers—Accelerando, Captain Commando, The Mystic, The Rocket, Storm King and the others—realizing, “There’s only one locker room?”

Voice, a thin, blonde woman, shucked her grey Stapledon uniform, laughed and grunted, “You got it.” Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 13 →

Arc 8.6.0: Revelations

Revelations: Part 8

6 Comments

Loosening my choke hold, I dropped to the ground, putting Lucas body in the center of the wards Samita had set up on the floor. The Thing That Eats’ head had disappeared, revealing Lucas’ face.

As he lay on the concrete between black lines and symbols that I didn’t recognize, I reminded myself that he had to be alive. I’d choked him correctly, and I’d timed it. The Thing That Eats had a talent for playing on people’s fears. My longstanding one was that I’d kill somebody who didn’t deserve it, and he’d done his best to play on it. Continue reading Revelations: Part 8 →

Arc 8.4.0: Intrusion

Intrusion: Part 1

14 Comments

I waited to see what would happen, but after a few minutes, Jeremy texted me, writing, “J’s talking to cops. I’m riding along. You can go home.”

I typed back, “OK,” told everyone what was going on, and drove back to the dorms.

After we got back to the university, we all walked together back to the dorm. After we got there, Caleb and Gabriel walked off toward their own rooms. Courtney hung around with Haley, Camille and me in my room for about an hour after that, talking through everything we’d wished we could have said to each other back in the van. Continue reading Intrusion: Part 1 →

Arc 8.3.5: Precision

Precision: Part 9

8 Comments

I swallowed. I’d met a woman who used eagle themed powered armor. She’d been a professional mercenary who worked for Rook directly, and indirectly the Nine. She’d been in Rook’s headquarters when we broke in to rescue Cassie. I’d assumed that she’d survived the headquarters blowing up, but hadn’t expected to see her again.

I hadn’t beaten her as much as escaped from her, so this wasn’t good news. Continue reading Precision: Part 9 →

Arc 8.3.5: Precision

Precision: Part 8

8 Comments

We pushed our way back to the van, leaving and undoubtedly violating laws about staying at the scene of a crime in the process. I wasn’t sure how many heard the first part of the conversation, but there were a lot of people at the end.

Of course, that was when Kid Biohack was there. Back when it was Alden and Jillian talking, it wouldn’t have appeared to be anything more than normal conversation since he’d been out of costume.

Still, someone might have listened to all of it. In that case, the police would be very interested in anything Jillian would have to say. Continue reading Precision: Part 8 →

Arc 8.3.5: Precision

Precision: Part 5

18 Comments

In the background, I heard Courtney continue. “His text said that he was corralling everyone else.”

Jillian stood a little taller than Haley, and she’d braided her hair—which went halfway down her back. Just like the last time I’d seen her, she wore a flannel shirt over a t-shirt.

Courtney backed in as Jillian stepped inside—Jeremy and I didn’t have a particularly large room. We each had a closet on either side of the door, forcing everyone to move into the main area of the room, and stand next to our bunks and the desks. Jeremy’s was covered with a mixture of physics textbooks, science fiction paperbacks, old anime DVD’s, and books about conspiracy theories. Except for my laptop and the textbooks I couldn’t get as ebooks, mine was nearly empty.

Courtney pulled out Jeremy’s chair as Haley sat on my desk. Jillian and I stood in the middle of the room next to the bunk beds.

All of this meant that I couldn’t ask Haley anything about the power juice. The big questions being whether Jillian had some on her or whether she’d already drunk it or what? Continue reading Precision: Part 5 →

Arc 8.3.5: Precision

Precision: Part 4

15 Comments

When I opened up the pictures on my laptop, it was the speedster I’d seen first—the one that wasn’t glowing—the guy. He’d run back to his origin point, but there was no sign of the woman.

I stayed up for another ten minutes, waiting to see if she’d show up too, but she didn’t. When I woke up the next morning, there hadn’t been any further alerts. Maybe the north end of the route was where she lived.

Maybe she’d taken a cab back? I had no idea. Continue reading Precision: Part 4 →