Tag Archives: Haley

Arc 8.3.5: Precision

Precision: Part 8

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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 7

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Jillian’s boyfriend straightened up, letting go of Jillian’s arm, and standing in between her and Kid Biohack. Meeting Kid’s eyes, he said, “I told you I wasn’t going to do the hero thing after graduation. The system’s corrupt, and I know you know it. We talked about it back—” and there he blinked, “—in days we can’t talk about.”

Jeremy glanced over at me, and I guessed he’d recognized the same thing I had—the slack-jawed look of a guy whose psychic block had kicked into action.

Haley grabbed Jillian’s arm and whispered into her ear while pulling her backward, and nudging Camille and the guys next to her.

That was the smart play. Getting a ringside seat at what might be a superpowered fight was not. Continue reading Precision: Part 7 →

Arc 8.3.5: Precision

Precision: Part 5

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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

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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 →

Arc 8.3.5: Precision

Precision: Part 1

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We were back in Grand Lake late Sunday night. I planned to drive about half the Grand Lake University group back to campus. Jody’s parents lived only a few blocks away, so Dayton, Jody and Sean walked over there and to pick up Jody’s car. Julie and Shannon took their own way too.

That left Haley, Travis, Camille, Courtney, and Vaughn riding back to campus in the van with me. It filled all the seats once you included everyone’s luggage. I probably could have adjusted the van to compensate, but I couldn’t show up to the university’s car garage driving any other version of my van than my own.

Arriving in the Cat Mecha would have been funny, though. Continue reading Precision: Part 1 →

Arc 8.3: Everybody's Got One

Everybody’s Got One: Part 4

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Over the next two days, I settled into a more normal routine. The spybots didn’t pick up anything worth mentioning. Kid Biohack didn’t try to contact us. I had time to hang around with Haley, which on Thursday night turned into all the people who happened to visit my room—Camille, Vaughn, and Courtney. We didn’t talk about anything even related to Stapledon or superheroes because a number of Jeremy’s friends also came through including Jillian, the Kid Biohack fan we’d met while moving in.

Sean even dropped by to talk to Vaughn. It was the first time I’d seen him since leaving Colorado. It wasn’t precisely awkward. We’d talked a few times after everything that happened—fighting faeries, the dragon, and so on, but no heart to heart talks or anything. We’d acknowledged each other and left it at that. Thursday was no exception. Sean and I nodded at each other. Sean and Vaughn stepped out to talk, and then Vaughn came back alone.

It wasn’t exactly a homework-friendly situation. I didn’t get anything done until after everyone left. On the bright side, it was still the first week of school, so there wasn’t much homework to speak of.
Continue reading Everybody’s Got One: Part 4 →

Arc 8.3: Everybody's Got One

Everybody’s Got One: Part 3

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The day went, and if I’m honest with myself, the classes weren’t bad. It was the first day of each class that I took, and while I did learn that I’d have some big projects, they weren’t due for months. It wasn’t even worth worrying about. Besides, some of them sounded fun.

So the classes themselves weren’t bad, but what came between the classes could have been better.

It probably was just me, but it felt like everyone was talking about the fight. In my 9am, Modern European History class, a group of students were discussing it before the prof came in. I was sitting near the front, and couldn’t see any of them. Continue reading Everybody’s Got One: Part 3 →

Arc 8.3: Everybody's Got One

Everybody’s Got One: Part 1

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Travis gave a snort. “No, but if we’re going to expand, we’re going to need a system for it. My frat has one. No reason our team shouldn’t.”

He frowned. “If nothing else, it might help to have something to point to when we say no to that guy. I’ve got a feeling he’s going to get pissy.”

Outside, Kid Biohack paused to talk to the small group of people gathered on the sidewalk, most of whom were carrying cameras. When had they arrived? How had they even known we were here?

Even as I asked the question, I knew the answer. We’d participated in a public fight. The police had been called. If the press wanted to talk to us where would they go? Here or the real headquarters (which they shouldn’t have any way to know about)?

As the photographers’ flashes went off, Kid Biohack stepped into the road and ran away, taking only seconds to match the speed of traffic. Continue reading Everybody’s Got One: Part 1 →

Arc 8.2.5: Hackjob

Hackjob: Part 11

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Kid Biohack’s right hand twitched, but despite what I expected, he didn’t blow up at Travis. He smiled and said, “I know that wasn’t the ideal introduction, but it’s not entirely my fault. My powers make me a little impulsive sometimes. I’m sure some of you have the same problem.”

He smiled at Haley. She didn’t smile back.

“I don’t know how it is for you,” he continued, “but my muscles and tissues respond to chemicals my body secretes, allowing me to make myself faster, stronger, tougher and more agile. No one’s found a limit as to how far I can push them. It’s all a matter of controlling my body to create the right combination of chemicals. People even write into my website to suggest ideas.”

I felt my eyebrow rise, and wondered if he saw any hint of that through my mask.”You’re pretty open about how that works.” Continue reading Hackjob: Part 11 →