Travis eyed Kid Biohack. “We need to talk.”
Swallowing, Kid Biohack said, “Uh-huh.”
Travis let him down to the road, and let go of his throat, but not his arm. Kid Biohack stared up at Travis with an expression that made it obvious that he probably didn’t actually want to talk as much as he wanted to be somewhere else.
“Rocket,” Travis asked, “can you get us a vehicle?” Continue reading Hackjob: Part 6
Whatever else could be said of Kid Biohack, his reflexes were freakish. I came out of my dive roughly twenty feet behind him, close enough to see the guy he was chasing with my helmet’s composite night vision.
The stride of Kid Biohack’s target was amazing. He was taking twenty feet at a step, and not because of exceptionally long legs. It was all strength. That was how Jaclyn ran. He simply wasn’t as fast. More interesting, Kid Biohack was keeping up the same way. Continue reading Hackjob: Part 5
I picked up my tablet and clicked on the YouTube app, finding my subscriptions, and clicking on Kid Biohack’s feed.
Vaughn laughed. “You’re subscribing to that guy?”
I ignored him. The video was entitled “Live: Kid Biohack Corners Suspect!” More than three thousand people were currently watching. Continue reading Hackjob: Part 4
Wednesday found me attending classes and quietly wishing I had a lab on campus like I had when I’d been in the Castle Rock Compound for the summer. I’d spent Tuesday evening back in the lab in the Heroes’ League’s headquarters watching my bot factories build robots, and loading them into my “assist pods.”
Then I let the pods float into the air, dispersing bots to their assigned lamp posts and telephone poles.
All of it went without a hitch despite the fact that it was 99% automated. Continue reading Hackjob: Part 3
I laughed. “You’re probably right about that. We don’t even do our social media. I assume it’s being done either by our board’s staff or maybe by someone on the ‘for profit’ side of the operation. So far as I know, no part of the League released the dragon video, though.”
I thought about that. I’d never asked who did our social media. For all I knew, someone on the board thought it would do some good.
Coming back to myself, I continued, “You might be right about not caring who knows his secret identity. If he grew up in a compound, he might not have one.” Continue reading Hackjob: Part 2
Watching as the people Jeremy had been talking to turned to look at me, I said, “I saw the YouTube video where he said he planned to join the Heroes’ League. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Jeremy grinned. “I guess we’ll see what happens. He struck me as small time compared to the League.”
The girl next to Jeremy elbowed him. “Small time? He’s from Los Angeles. Everybody looks small time there unless they’re part of SoCal Defenders. I’m sure he’s been in more fights than the new kids in the Heroes’ League.” Continue reading Hackjob: Part 1
“I didn’t beat them. You were there. Everyone here was there. And when it comes down to it, Lee planned and directed the final battle with the Cabal.”
“I know,” Sydney said. “I fought, but I wasn’t involved–not the way you were. You let yourself get taken captive to help rescue our families, and Lee planned. Sean and I and the rest of Justice Fist followed.”
Camille shook her head. “Justice Fist. It was a nice try, but it was such a mess. You had Lucas, heir to millions or billions and already a doctor saddled with us, a bunch of high school kids who were full of hormones. And then there was Sean who didn’t like playing second fiddle to Lucas and also didn’t like how Julie and Shannon both were seriously crushing on the guy–not that Lucas pursued either of them.” Continue reading Super Social: Part 9
Marcus put his hand up to his chin, thought for a second, and then said, “It doesn’t sound that big brotherish. You’re only planning to watch for speedsters, right? It’s not like you’re going to watch everyone in town and monitor whatever they’re doing.”
I nodded. “That’s the plan. The idea is that the spybots would detect someone moving faster than normal humans can and watch them, and only them.”
Marcus sat up a little straighter. “I just thought of something. What about friendly speedsters like Jaclyn, for example? It’s not like she’s here all the time anymore, but if we need help, she’ll come. Plus, what about her older brothers or Grandpa?” Continue reading Super Social: Part 8
It was nice to know that Chris had been maintaining the equipment when I wasn’t around to do it, but I felt a little funny anyway. I would have done it if anyone had mentioned that people needed it. For all I knew, no one was using the mini-rocket packs.
I knew it was completely stupid to care, but it was one more thing that I hadn’t known about—like redecorating the main room in the base. I couldn’t deny it looked better, but it had been a shock the first time I saw it.
It made me wonder what else had changed. Continue reading Super Social: Part 7
There were other metahumans out there in the Cabal’s league in terms of strength and toughness, but the Cabal’s toughest soldiers had all of that plus regeneration—the quick kind.
My heart started beating, and I quickly scanned the area around us, all 360 degrees of it. More cars were stopping, and even more slowing down, but not in the kind of way that made me nervous. No one was running to join us or crossing the distance in a single jump.
That was the other thing about the Cabal—they’d agreed to leave us alone for a year last spring. It was now the end of the summer. By their own promise, they were free to kill us now. Continue reading Super Social: Part 6