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
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
“That… fits,” I replied. “Do you think his shield is natural or the product of technology? Because if he’s blocking you, that’s something I can’t do.”
Daniel nodded, “I know. With you, a telepath can get in, but then they’re hit by waves of madness. Getting out with sanity intact is the bigger challenge. His telepathic shield might be a device. It feels too consistent to be natural. Even with a strong natural shield, there’s an ebb and flow. You feel like it’s moving. This feels solid, but the hints of madness-inducing interference pulsing through it feel natural.”
Izzy shook her head, “How did we not notice this before? Didn’t your dad put in his Stapledon block?” Continue reading Jody: Part 10
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
“For what it’s worth,” I said, “I was ready to take a chance on it. We will have to face the Nine and it would be easier with whatever you got out of Arete.”
He gave a weak nod and coughed, “There’s another chance. I knew you had to destroy us completely. I created a spore, separated from us, and encased it as completely as I could. Look past me. I’d give it to you, but I shouldn’t touch it.”
I stepped around him. Hidden from direct view, a ball made of a pearl-like hard substance sat on a bare spot of concrete. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 62
I pushed the bot views into the background and paid attention to the world around me. Alex pointed at the mounds around us and the ceiling. All of them sagged and dripped viscous, brown goo. More liquid puddled beneath the withered skin.
“We should grab everybody,” I said. “We might be able to get away with leaving Flame Legion. I know she doesn’t exactly enjoy dying, though.”
Alex nodded, “Yeah. That hasn’t changed, but she’s more used to it. I’d leave her.” Continue reading Courtesy: Part 61
I had good reason to think Kals would be fine but I didn’t know if Alex had bothered to download and install the latest update. You could reasonably ask why that wouldn’t be automatic, but even my updates had the potential of going wrong.
You wanted to install when you had a backup suit available and not midway through a mission.
In that moment, though, I didn’t spend any time checking the update logs. I jumped for Jody and glancing behind at me, his eyes widened. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 59
I didn’t shed tears, but if I weren’t having to again slaughter humonsters, I could have. I punched a humonster that jumped down from the top of a mound toward Alex in the face, splattering it across the side of the mound it jumped from.
We might finally be done with this.
Alex stumbled toward the glowing mound, shaking his head, his footing becoming more sure with each step. He only had to make it twenty feet, but I’d seen how unpredictable twenty feet could be.
Still, he had Kals and whatever Bloodmaiden was in control for help. It needed to be enough. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 58
That knowledge gave me the confidence to let “Amy” and Kals protect Alex while I did my best to protect Daniel and the various Jennys.
Her ability to duplicate herself made it worse when every copy represented a tunnel into her brain.
I fired off a series of armor piercing bots. They weren’t as effective as killbots, but they were simpler and faster to produce. Plus, they didn’t have monomolecular blades constantly sucking energy until they dulled. Continue reading Courtesy: Part 57
Izzy laughed.
Alex eyed her, “What?”
She shook her head, “You’re confident.”
“I’m stating a fact. You brought me here to do a job and I’m ready.” Alex looked over at a group of Jennys, possibly for support. More than one of them rolled their eyes.
Over the comm, Brooke AKA Portal AKA Guardian’s daughter and Alex’s girlfriend said, “Alex…”
Daniel interrupted before the conversation went any further, “Our chances of success start going down the longer we take here.” Continue reading Courtesy: Part 42