Tag Archives: Haley

Arc 5.2: Here We Come

Here We Come: Part 1

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The flight to Ann Arbor to pick up Rachel and Jaclyn took less than 10 minutes.

We picked them up at a small lake Rachel had called “Barton Pond.” Whatever it was, it was large enough for me to find from the air, and float over while they boarded. Plus it was dark enough out that we wouldn’t be too obvious.

They were in costume. All in white, Rachel’s gun hung from her utility belt. Jaclyn’s costume was purple, as ever, and unlike anyone else on our team, she wore a mask instead of a bullet resistant hood.

Being basically invulnerable, she could do that.

As they pulled on their seat belts, Jaclyn said, “So, do we have a plan this time?”

Continue reading Here We Come: Part 1 →

Arc 5.1: Ready or Not

Ready or Not: Part 6

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Bits of light sparkled around the end of the barrel. I waited to see if it did it again. It didn’t.

Good. Then I didn’t have to put it back in the locker.

I put on a little speed, and joined everyone else by the jet. Haley had touched the door, and it opened, lowering to the ground, and altering to become a short stairway.

Sean looked down at the gun and said, “What’s that? You looked like you were talking to it.”

Not even waiting for me to answer, he reached out to take it.

It fired.

Continue reading Ready or Not: Part 6 →

Arc 5.1: Ready or Not

Ready or Not: Part 5

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Daniel, I thought at him, Why not you?

I’ve never liked being in charge, and I’ve had to do it a lot. Besides, we all need leadership experience and you managed to avoid it when we were switching off. Plus, and this is the most important reason, you’ve been part of the whole thing from the beginning. You’ll see stuff I’ll miss unless I go through your head, and search for every last bit of related stuff.

I could see that, and I did remember him hating being put in charge of things at school. He’d gone to the only Jewish day school in the area, been the grandson of a much loved Rabbi, and was tall and good looking as well. People tended to give him more attention than he wanted.

So okay, he was right, but how was I supposed to butt into Sean and Sydney’s family fight and actually make them listen?

Continue reading Ready or Not: Part 5 →

Arc 5.1: Ready or Not

Ready or Not: Part 4

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Haley’s voice came over the speaker. “What’s Sean doing here?”

On the monitor, both Sean and Sydney looked around, neither of them sure where Haley’s voice had come from.

The two of them stood inside a sewer pipe. The door in front of them was made of concrete covered in reinforced steel.

That wouldn’t be much of an obstacle.

Sean wore his Justice Fist costume—green except for a white triangle that had a green fist inside it. Sydney appeared to be completely covered in gray metal.

She turned her head in Sean’s direction, scowling as she said, “He wouldn’t let me go alone.”

Continue reading Ready or Not: Part 4 →

Arc 5.1: Ready or Not

Ready or Not: Part 3

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Haley barely let him finish before jumping in. “What do you mean, ‘no?’ You’re not going to do anything. You just told us so, and we can’t leave her there.”

Guardian’s jaw tightened, and he said, “We’re going to do something, but we’re going to do it right. Even if you know where she is, and it isn’t a trap, they’ll still be expecting an attack. I’m not going to throw high school students up against Rook and possibly more of the Nine’s people. If anything, I’m going to send in experienced people. Time to stop talking, and give me her location, I’ll get as far as I can.”

Somewhere in the back of my mind, a part of me wanted to remind him that some of us were college students, but I doubted that arguing technicalities would get me anywhere.

Continue reading Ready or Not: Part 3 →

Arc 5.1: Ready or Not

Ready or Not: Part 2

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I clicked for more information, and realized that it wasn’t Cassie’s new communicator sending the signal. It was her old one.

The old League had alert signals that allowed them to show status using green, yellow, and red like ours did, but didn’t allow them to send sound or pictures—just location.

They’d been great at what they could do, but I’d replaced them last spring. Continue reading Ready or Not: Part 2 →

Arc 5.1: Ready or Not

Ready or Not: Part 1

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Haley and I sat in League HQ. The League’s twenty foot high TV screen showed nothing—just blackness.

Nothing had worked out.

OK, nothing might have been stretching it. We’d brought Marcus, Travis, Vaughn, and Courtney to one of Haley’s cousins, a doctor, who did what he could for them. Then we left, and they stayed.

None of them were unconscious, and if we got into the air, we might be able to detect Rook’s plane with the League jet’s sensors.

We couldn’t. So after a few circles around Grand Lake, we landed the jet, and went back to HQ’s main room, and sat there in a room the size of a basketball court, calling people and leaving messages.

Continue reading Ready or Not: Part 1 →

Arc 5.0: A Kind of Small Crow

A Kind of Small Crow: Part 10

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The flunky started hitting himself, and screaming, his voice reminding me again that this was Davis, the guy who’d made the offer to Courtney.

I wondered for a moment how much damage I wanted to do to him. I had questions for him, after all, but that didn’t matter as much as I’d have thought.

Rook’s suits were pretty well constructed.

The bots wedged themselves into cracks, but they did a lot more damage to the powered armor than the person inside. Plus, after the first wave, I brought in a wave of EMP bots.

The first wave withdrew as the second settled on him. He stopped hitting himself for a moment, and adjusted his footing, probably in preparation for attacking me—or possibly escaping.

Then the EMP bots exploded. Continue reading A Kind of Small Crow: Part 10 →

Arc 5.0: A Kind of Small Crow

A Kind of Small Crow: Part 9

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Too quickly for me to see anything but a blur, Travis punched the guy in the face—if you could call a beaked helmet a face.

His punch hit the right cheek, denting it, and twisting the beak. The helmet made a crunching noise, and bent backward. It didn’t seem to bend further back than a human head could, but it didn’t seem to be capable of bending forward anymore.

Not that that mattered. Travis’ punch had knocked the guy backward. Continue reading A Kind of Small Crow: Part 9 →

Arc 5.0: A Kind of Small Crow

A Kind of Small Crow: Part 8

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I couldn’t see it happen, but at least one of the bullets hit. Vaughn fell, or maybe more accurately, lost control.

He flipped over a few times, dropping dangerously low. I would have lost track of him if it weren’t for the sonar built in to the stealth suit’s helmet.

His black costume blended into the night, but the helmet outlined his body, showing him as he nearly hit Grand Lake Marina Supplies. I say “nearly hit” because he didn’t.

He swerved right just as he was about to hit the “G” in Grand Lake.

Continue reading A Kind of Small Crow: Part 8 →