The photographer said, “Not happening. I took those pictures. They’re mine. End of story.”
He pulled his camera with one hand, and held his left a little away from his body as if he intended to block with it. It didn’t look like he’d had any kind of martial arts training. The way he held his arm, it would come up too slowly.
Hunter asked me, “Isn’t there some kind of law against taking pictures of people like us?”
I glanced over at Haley, and she shrugged.
“I’m not sure what power juice has to do with anything.”
Keith tilted his head, and said, “You know, the whole thing where power juice became illegal, making us all technically criminals? Plus, you remember Logan at our prom. He was a total druggie, and then he got into power juice and tried to eat the school.”
I shook my head. “Not an issue. I don’t have any powers, and it wasn’t illegal back then. All this amounts to is secret identities. To continue to have one, I have to keep mine secret. I haven’t told anyone who I am who hasn’t figured it out first. You didn’t figure it out, so I could avoid telling you.”
That brought back memories–at least one memory anyway.
Two years ago, back when we’d begun to get the first inklings that something was wrong with the city’s mayor, and that he might be part of something bigger, I’d flown to Chicago and checked out the house of someone we thought might be his associate.
Dark Cloak had been waiting for me outside, bitterly unhappy with how he’d been treated by the FBI, and warning me that they’d use me and discard me.
The next day was Sunday. After my family went to church, and had dinner, I decided that I was going to go to HQ to get some serious work done on the anti-paralysis device. I had a working prototype. I just had to put out a copy for all of us, plus spares. Except then I realized I ought to make copies for anyone who planned to help us, plus if I managed to pump out more roachbots, it wouldn’t hurt.
That’s what I thought at about 1:30, but then I remembered that Keith and Courtney’s graduation open houses were that afternoon between two and four, and that I’d RSVP’ed. Worse, I couldn’t just skip it because Haley had been invited too. Continue reading Graduation: Part 11
“It was one of those two A.M. phone calls,” Vaughn said. “You know, the ones that are either going to be incredibly good, or incredibly bad.”
The cafeteria was mostly empty and lunch hour was mostly over. Vaughn had happened to pass my table on the way out. Courtney and Keith were sitting with me, so I couldn’t say much.
Continue reading Counterattack: Part 4
Haley crossed the floor and stepped into the kitchen, the door swaying back and forth after she passed through.
Even as she passed out of sight, a rusty, white Ford Taurus raced through the parking lot, barely stopping before turning on to Jefferson Street. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I saw our waitress in the driver’s seat.
Though I couldn’t understand her words, I could hear Haley’s voice. She wasn’t shouting, but she wasn’t making an effort to keep the volume down either.
Continue reading Uncontrolled Substances: Part 9
Restaurants ran down both sides of Jefferson Street, most of them chains. Scattered among the McDonalds, Burger Kings, CVS Pharmacies, and gas stations were local businesses.
As we neared the restaurant, Haley stopped talking and asked, “What kind of restaurant was it?”
“Basically fine dining. A steak house, I think.”
Off to the right I saw the building, a long building, decorated to suggested a cabin in the woods — fake wooden logs for the walls, a big, glowing sign that said “Grand Lake Steak and Fine Dining” next to a picture of a buck.
I turned the car into the parking lot.
“Oh, this ought to be interesting,” she said.
Continue reading Uncontrolled Substances: Part 8
Talk turned back to who people were going to the prom with. Vaughn and Cassie were both going, but not with each other. Kayla either wasn’t going or didn’t have a date. Either way, she didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t hear what the rest of the guys were doing, but maybe they didn’t say.
When Keith heard I was going with Haley, he said, “You should go to a restaurant with Courtney and I before prom.”
Continue reading Uncontrolled Substances: Part 6
As crazy as it sounds, part of the reason people might not have been paying quite as much attention to Sean was that there were other things to think about. For example, prom was that Friday. The administration had been talking about canceling it after everything that happened with Keith’s accident, the massive number of reporters, and the abduction of Keith’s uncle, but somehow they didn’t.
What this meant on a practical level was that I still had to go. Not that that was all bad, but I was going to not one, but two proms.
Continue reading Uncontrolled Substances: Part 5
Outside of shock, I didn’t have much of a reaction.
When I hung up, I turned to Daniel, who had undoubtedly been listening to both sides of the conversation, and asked, “So now what?”
“We go to the hospital. This is going to be big.”
Continue reading Hysteria: Part 2