Tag Archives: Jaclyn

Arc 13.4.5: Sudden Changes

Sudden Changes: Part 11

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Izzy hit the dome fist first, obviously expecting it to work like a force field and shatter with the strength of her blow plus her momentum. It didn’t. Through my HUD, I saw the spot where she hit give but turn into a kind of tunnel through the dome, adjusting her course to slide her out the side before she had time to adjust.

Not anyone could have done that. Gish either had Daniel’s prescience or practiced adjusting his shield a lot.

At the same time that Izzy had tried punching the dome, I’d tried my own experiment with punching it. As I did, I saw through my HUD that rather than moving out of the way of my punch, the shield darkened around my hand, becoming denser and holding it in place. I hadn’t been hovering as I did it either. Continue reading Sudden Changes: Part 11 →

Arc 13.4.5: Sudden Changes

Sudden Changes: Part 7

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“We’re ready,” Cassie said.

Given what she’d just done, I couldn’t argue with her. As for myself, I charged up my laser and activated the remaining killbots and boombots. Back when we’d first fought the Cabal, I’d been relieved that we hadn’t had to kill them. Part of me wished I were that version of myself now, but the more experienced version of me knew that even before the Dominators had turned them into the Nine’s servants, they were willing to kill all of us.

Tara’s name flashed in my HUD as she spoke, “The True will get suspicious something’s about to happen now if they haven’t already.” Continue reading Sudden Changes: Part 7 →

Arc 13.4.5: Sudden Changes

Sudden Changes: Part 5

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As the trees shook, flame exploded outward and upward from the spot she hit. Flying upward out of the gout of flame, Johnny Destruction roared into the sky and then dropped toward the ground feet first with a trail of fire following him.

Izzy shot into the air after him, diving as he changed direction, maybe catching him on the ground because there was another blast of fire and a moving trail of flame moving down the street. Continue reading Sudden Changes: Part 5 →

Arc 13.4.5: Sudden Changes

Sudden Changes: Part 1

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Mom angled the blade and pulled it back. Number Eight’s face turned white and he began to fall, trying to swing his cane back at her, but not with any real force. It fell out of his hand when he struck the concrete floor.

He tried to say something, but I couldn’t understand it. His eyes shut and he didn’t move.

Mom had stepped back as he fell, avoiding his body and stood over him staring down at it. Then she looked over at me, “Nick, are you okay? Do we have to get you to the hospital?” Continue reading Sudden Changes: Part 1 →

Arc 13.4.0: Misdirection

Misdirection: Part 9

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Uncle Steve sighed as he saw me come through the door, seeming to relax a little even if he went back to watching Number Eight within seconds. Mom, for the record, didn’t look any less nervous. I turned toward the silver wall, standing directly in front of my mom, but ahead and to the right of Uncle Steve.

I got in position even as Number Eight slashed a foot-long hole in the wall. I hadn’t noticed before, but a six-inch long blade extended from the bottom of his cane. I supposed that made it a knife or spear cane because that was too short for a sword. Continue reading Misdirection: Part 9 →

Arc 13.4.0: Misdirection

Misdirection: Part 5

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“Tempting offer,” I said. “I have a counteroffer. How about you leave without hurting anybody and we all get to skip a fight?”

Number Eight smiled. That smile along with his bowler, cane, and the white shirt under his suit jacket made me think of the film A Clockwork Orange. Appearing to be in his mid-thirties, the man seemed a little too old for the role.

I’d never watched it, but it sounded disturbing. Continue reading Misdirection: Part 5 →

Arc 13.4.0: Misdirection

Misdirection: Part 4

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As I ran, I tried to think who the people I’d seen might be. The tall woman with green skin came first. I’d seen an alert about her from the FBI. She was called Rogue Croc—which I guess was a reference to a film in addition to the fact that she’d been recruited into the army and been activated by their version of the power impregnator before “going rogue.” Also, she’d grown up in a village of Cabal descendants, so she wasn’t going down easy.

My implant returned that the woman with the staff was called Magicka and that she’d been around since the 1920s, mostly fighting members of the Mask family. As of my internship with the Motor City Heroes, Mateo/Blue Mask was a friend who had no chance to get here in time to help. Continue reading Misdirection: Part 4 →

Arc 13.4.0: Misdirection

Misdirection: Part 2

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It hadn’t changed at all from how I’d left things. Haley was still talking to her mom. The Cabal soldier was still standing on the sidewalk in front of her house. Other people from our team were standing near us—Marcus, Tara, Julie, Katuk, and Kals.

Jaclyn’s camera still showed the burning house, “Hey,” she said, “should Blue and I head over to the house? I don’t like the looks of having a Cabal soldier there just waiting.”

From above Jaclyn, Izzy said, “I don’t either.” Continue reading Misdirection: Part 2 →

Arc 13.3.5: Friends & Family

Friends & Family: Part 9

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I didn’t like that the Cabal soldier who came to help him wasn’t with him, but I didn’t say that over the comm.

Over the comm, I said, “If there’s no one else around, you might as well. That said, The Nine have had teleporters in their bases before, so that might change.”

Jaclyn groaned, “That’s right. And even if they don’t have one here, Cabal soldiers can jump half a mile or more. Blue, keep on your guard.”

I felt as if I could hear Izzy’s frown as she replied, “I couldn’t stop listening to everything around me even if I wanted to.”

“Going in,” Jaclyn said. Continue reading Friends & Family: Part 9 →

Arc 13.3.5: Friends & Family

Friends & Family: Part 8

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Standing next to Katuk and Kals, Tara spoke in the flatter voice I associated with her using her ability to create patterns from minimal data, “Knowing that they’re working for the Nine, they might be attempting to separate us and then attack your parents or us while we’re separated.”

“Is that likely,” I asked.

Tara tilted her head, but then said, “I don’t have enough to go on.”

“Chances of something bad happening just ticked up,” Daniel said. Continue reading Friends & Family: Part 8 →