The Xiniti sighed, making a noise closer to a hiss which technically came from a nose-like orifice on the Xiniti’s back, but whatever.

He added, “It’s not our intention to leave you alone now. Communications will be accepted and answered, but all our troops are committed due to the nature of the current hostilities. Any assistance we give will require reassignment from somewhere else. Keep us appraised of any troop movements that pass your position.”

Then the communication ended.

Marcus shook his head, “That’s bad.” Continue reading Knock, Knock? Part 10 →

Hoping that Rook didn’t have a final bomb capable of shattering the complex, I used anti-gravity to send us upward and then moved forward, aiming the jet toward the red building.

Over the comm, I said, “Ghost? We’re heading in your direction. Are you okay?”

“Well,” she said, “I don’t feel more hurt than before, but I still don’t feel good. Stop over the complex and I’ll aim for the jet.”

As we closed in on the complex, I checked the radiation levels of the smoke floating out of it, and they were high. I avoided them. The jet probably had enough shielding to handle it, but why take chances? Continue reading Knock, Knock? Part 9 →

I shrugged, “No idea, but I’m hoping that time travel only spins off a new universe now.”

“Hey,” Rachel said over the comm, “everybody’s exiting through the back doors. I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”

I checked the stand of trees where Rook’s backup group had been standing. They’d started running and then took to the air. Continue reading Knock, Knock? Part 8 →

Of course, for all I knew, Rook initially drew on a connection to Abominator tech. If so, the shadowy shape I saw could be the thing that inspired him. It wasn’t likely, but the world got weird sometimes.

Into the comm, I said, “I think I see a crowbot.”

“Really,” Marcus stared into the room, “where?”

“Kind of in the trees across the lake,” I said, “I think it’s out of phase.” Continue reading Knock, Knock? Part 4 →

I heard her but didn’t respond. I was too busy staring out the door.

Before we entered the hallway, we’d been in a room that I might have described as a biosphere (except technically speaking it wasn’t spherical). This was bigger and though I hadn’t measured it, if I had to guess, it was bigger than the building appeared outside.

While that might mean some kind of Tardis-style “bigger on the inside” weirdness, it might also mean that the hall dropped below the surface in a nonobvious way as we walked. Continue reading Knock, Knock? Part 3 →

I zoomed in and so did everyone else. It was a small drawing of a man with a long nose peering over a wall. The words “Kilroy was here,” were written below the drawing.

Marcus said, “There’s one of those in the hangar at home.”

Cassie nodded, “Dad left them when he had the time.”

With an eye roll, Jaclyn said, “And even when he didn’t, Grandpa told me about once when they were sneaking out of a supervillain’s base and he had to return for Cap. They nearly got caught because of it.”

Marcus turned to Jaclyn, “I missed out on that story.” Continue reading Knock, Knock? Part 2 →