Tag Archives: Izzy

Arc 8: Faerieland

Faerieland: Part 30

13 Comments

Chunks of the rock wall flew in all directions, both into and out of the shop. Worse, a huge slab of rock from just above where Amy and Izzy broke through waited until after the initial crash to fall.

It came to rest inside the hall, its lower end wedged against the remains of the shop’s rear entrance.

Noting that the chunk of rock was not only between Daniel and us, Cassie, and Camille, but also between us and the exit we’d planned to use, it was time to rethink that part of the plan. I wondered if we should follow Izzy and Amy out of the shop they’d wrecked, but that question was answered quickly in the negative. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 30 →

Arc 8: Faerieland

Faerieland: Part 29

14 Comments

Samita furrowed her brow as she thought. “There are spells best done with a multitude of bodies for sacrifice, or simply to add to the metaphysical weight of the ritual.”

“The more people, the more power?” Vaughn sat on Haley’s dresser. Haley’s eyes flicked in his direction, but she didn’t say anything.

Samita’s mouth tightened, “Not… exactly, but that can be true.”

Amy had taken off her helmet when the door shut. She swung it in her left hand, “I don’t see any sign that Adam’s been trained as a wizard. I looked into his room a little, and we both know everyone in the magic program. He’s not in it.” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 29 →

Arc 8: Faerieland

Faerieland: Part 4

4 Comments

Wait, I thought back at him. The teachers aren’t always in the dining hall anyway. Are you sure it’s not just chance?

Pretty sure, he thought back.

Behind me, Tara had been walking with Camille and Haley. As we stepped into the dining room, Tara stopped chatting with Camille and said, “This isn’t right.”

To me at least, nothing about the dining hall seemed in any way strange. Students talked and laughed at the tables. The upperclass students mostly stuck together while the first year students took up half the room, mixing a bit with my year. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 4 →

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 7.9: Demo

Demo: Part 13

13 Comments

The flash worked better on the audience than anyone else. All around me, people were saying things like, “Can you see what’s happening?”

Amy shook her head. Tara, like me, appeared to be unaffected.

She’d probably anticipated the explosion.

Not that that mattered. What mattered was that the blast hadn’t affected Gordon either. Either his hood or something in his mask had blocked the light. Continue reading Demo: Part 13 →

Arc 7.9: Demo

Demo: Part 12

9 Comments

Standing slightly behind Stephanie, Slugger and Blue Mask stood on either side of their flag pole. Sean and Gordon flew above them—at least at first. Team one had either opted for a defensive strategy or they’d been too slow to go on offense.

The way the wind had blown the broken bits of rock away from Stephanie argued that it was more likely to be intentional than not.

On the whole both teams were playing to their strengths. Team four had three fast moving, practically invulnerable members (Izzy, Akesha, Patriot, Jr) whereas everyone on team one was physically human normal so far as I knew—however fast Gordon or Sean might be.

On the other hand, team one had Stephanie who could immobilize from a distance, and Slugger and Blue Mask. I assumed they had to be useful somehow. Continue reading Demo: Part 12 →

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 7.8: Threat Analysis

Threat Analysis: Part 3

12 Comments

A few hours later we were on the lawn in front of Denver’s City and County Building in Civic Center Park—a big park with pillared government buildings all around it. The State Capitol building’s gold dome shone in the sunset on the far end of the park.

We’d arrived hours before the actual fireworks for the obvious reasons that it would be easier to find parking, and stake out a spot on the lawn.

We could have gone to Castle Rock’s fireworks display, but Lim had sent an email to everyone encouraging students to spread out. We’d have an easier time blending in in Denver. In fact, everyone in the Stapledon program could have gone to Denver’s show and not skewed the look of the crowd appreciably toward young adults.

We’d bought cheap camping chairs on the way there, and set them up on the lawn. Near me Daniel and Izzy talked with Cassie. Haley, Jaclyn and Camille were laughing about something behind me.

I had my League phone out, and open to the folder on the League’s servers where I’d had Hal put the transcripts.

Hal had overdone it. By far. Continue reading Threat Analysis: Part 3 →

Arc 7.7: Go Time

Go Time: Part 8

15 Comments

Who was the second glow? Russian Victory Jr.? Victoryboy?

The way I remembered it, all Russian superheroes were state sponsored. The ones that weren’t state sponsored were officially criminals no matter what their motivation.

A third glow appeared behind the two I’d already noticed, reminding me of something. Russian Victory was part of a group of three soldiers in powered armor. My grandfather had mentioned it was connected to Russian folklore somehow.

For the life of me I couldn’t remember the name of the group though. Continue reading Go Time: Part 8 →