Tag Archives: Jaclyn

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 14

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Within seconds of that conversation, I’d landed and so had not only Daniel and Izzy, but we’d also been joined by Sean, Dayton, Camille, Sydney, Vaughn, and Haley. Jaclyn had already been on the ground, of course.

Cassie, Julie, and Rachel all opted to stay on the roofs of the buildings around Justice Fist’s base. It wasn’t a bad idea. For all we knew, Jody had signaled for help. Someone needed to be in position to act.

Upon landing (Justice Fist seemed to have metal woven into their costumes), Dayton looked around the yard and said, “Wow. What a mess.” Continue reading Jody: Part 14 →

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 13

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By the time I was in the air, Jody had made it halfway down the lawn. Unable to go straight because Cassie continued to fire blinding beams at his head, he ran in a constant zigzag pattern. As bad as that was, he also had to deal with Rachel firing goobots at him from next to Julie on the roof—who continued to narrowcast commands at him.

He couldn’t turn around either because Jaclyn and Izzy were both following—which didn’t mean that he didn’t try twisting to the right or left and turning back. Continue reading Jody: Part 13 →

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 12

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My next observation was how easy it was to underestimate Jody’s speed. He went from almost stopped to moving away from Jaclyn nearly too fast to track.

I say nearly because my implant tracked him, and more to the point, so could Jaclyn’s.

She moved in his direction, aiming a kick toward his knee. I couldn’t see if she missed, but deduced it from how he could still run. Continue reading Jody: Part 12 →

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 11

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Dayton’s eyes widened for a moment, but only a moment before he said, “Of course not. We’ve got a lot to discuss today, but what do you think Magnus saw in us?”

As Dayton talked, Jody had gripped the table’s edge in his hands as if he planned to flip it over or push himself back.

“Look,” Jody said, hands tightening on the table, “I did talk to him, okay? You don’t throw away a chance like that. The guy had power, but you weren’t sure if you wanted to sign with Futuremen. You were going to throw it all away because having Magnus show up made you nervous.

“Well, I wasn’t. I wanted to see what he could give us and if you weren’t going to be involved, what he could give me.”

Sean stared at him, “Are you kidding me?” Continue reading Jody: Part 11 →

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 9

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This spot wasn’t too bad as mushroom goo went. While near downtown, it was on the edges. Best practices for superhero bases amounted to giving them some distance from nearby civilian buildings to avoid collateral damage when attacked and to make it obvious when someone was approaching.

Justice Fist’s base adhered to that as best a building in the middle of a city could.

With money from Futuremen Capital, they’d bought most of a small city block that used to hold an old warehouse, demolished the warehouse, and put up a squat, circular tower that I’d once heard Vaughn refer to as the “Justice Penis.”

I’d laughed because my sense of humor hadn’t emerged from adolescence either. Continue reading Jody: Part 9 →

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 7

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In less time than I expected (no more than twenty minutes), my implant notified me, “Project complete. The implant constructor will now create Xiniti implants.”

I thought back, “Including citizen implants? Not just local auxiliary?”

“There is no functional difference except in the information provided and access permissions. Should an auxiliary become a citizen, the changes will require downloads, not physical replacement.” Continue reading Jody: Part 7 →

Arc 14.4.0: Jody

Jody: Part 1

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Vaughn grinned, “They’re already involved. They were reporting to Daniel’s dad about Futuremen Capital. They thought Magnus was involved.”

“I remember,” I said. “Sydney wanted buzzers for them. I genuinely don’t remember if I provided them at this moment. I know I provided people in the community with designs.”

I hoped none of them got to the Nine, but chances were good that they might have. Plus, during the mushroom zombie fight, I learned that you could overwhelm them if you had enough people with voice powers. Continue reading Jody: Part 1 →

Arc 14.3.5: Castling

Castling: Part 9

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Fun. That wasn’t the first word I’d apply to a multi-year fight for the future of your civilization, but as a way to keep your spirits up when facing a struggle you knew you could only begin to imagine, it was worth a shot.

I was glad they’d found my killbot tech useful even though I didn’t love being partially responsible for political assassinations. The Human Ascendancy deserved what they got, but the precedent would linger. If Kal’s group were lucky enough to win and future generations celebrated their success, assassination might be viewed as a legitimate technique for people dissatisfied with their government. Continue reading Castling: Part 9 →

Arc 14.3.5: Castling

Castling: Part 6

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We couldn’t blast away with the main engine without risking that Dixieclone might notice the sound and realistically there was no “might” about it. Izzy would. If he had the same powers as her grandfather, so would he.

Trying to stay conscious of what was around me and hoping I wasn’t mumbling nonsense words, I said, “Fly anywhere I point and quickly, but not too quickly. Use our anti-gravity systems.”

Concentrating on the ambient energy around me, I couldn’t tell what was going on outside my head, but I knew I wasn’t dead. That would have to be enough. Continue reading Castling: Part 6 →

Arc 14.3.5: Castling

Castling: Part 5

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I watched the jet’s stats as we climbed. It had no issues. Then I thought of a possibility, “Ghost are you feeling anything?”

Rachel said, “No,” but she also gave the smallest shake of her head as if I shouldn’t talk about it.

Then she started tapping on her left forearm, using the “keyboard” I’d built into our suits. It was just a setting that made letters appear on either sleeve and turned the spots touch-sensitive.

Her text appeared in my HUD. Continue reading Castling: Part 5 →