Samita pursed her lips. “In myths, mortals typically tricked the fae into leaving them alone. They also lost a lot.”
“Great.” I considered logging in to my computer for a moment before remembering that the compound was locked down. That meant no internet access. We’d have to rely on anything in Samita or Amy’s personal libraries, and whatever we remembered about the fae.
In my case that wasn’t much. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 17
My eyes lingered on the wound. “Anyone feel up to treating this? If it’s me it’s just going to be basic first aid, but Amy? Samita?”
Samita fumbled for her pouch. “I made a few rolls of bandages. They don’t heal wounds, but you don’t bleed while you’re wrapped up.”
Vaughn raised an eyebrow. “How’s that better than normal bandages?”
Samita looked up from sticking her arm inside the pouch up to the elbow and feeling around. “I didn’t explain it very well. It’s much better. While you’re wrapped up it’s as if you weren’t even hurt, and you can wear it long enough without changing the wrap that you heal.”
Nodding, Vaughn said, “You’re right. That’s lots better.” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 16
“If we’re going to fight people,” I said, “and especially if we’re going fight people we know, I want to go back to my lab and get my regular armor before we do anything else.”
Samita nodded. “That seems wise. With Amy’s wards up, it might even be a safe haven from the fae.”
“Let’s run with that,” Amy said. “But let’s not stick around too much longer. I don’t want to fight these guys twice if I don’t have to.”
I glanced around the room. Neither the goblins nor the troll appeared to be particularly active. The troll still snored. The goblins mostly lay on the floor. One of them whimpered. Continue reading Faerieland: Part 15
I had a bad feeling the creature wouldn’t be on my side, and the fact that it was outside the wards made me suspect it was magic.
I desperately needed to tell people that it was there as soon as the fight was over.
Well, assuming it was real, and not the result of staring at a HUD filled with shades of grey (but not the sexy kind). I zoomed in, and saw nothing in that space.
I checked on Stephanie, finding her still covered with goo. She’d pulled out a knife, and was trying to cut the strands connecting her to the ground. Continue reading Demo: Part 21
Of course they were. I’d tested how the suit worked while exposed to electromagnetic force, figuring that someday I might have to fight Sean in it. Despite the shielding I’d put in, self-repair didn’t work well, so I’d designed it to shut off when exposed to enough electromagnetism that there might be problems.
And here we were.
The suit’s artificial muscles released energy as part of a chemical process however, so there wasn’t anything stopping me from what I did next—rushed them, reaching Blue Mask in one long jump. Continue reading Demo: Part 20
Wind hit me, and a lot of it. It wasn’t a well considered blast either, throwing me toward the bleachers.
I hit the force field hard. Unsurprisingly, I could see it coming at me better with sonar than I would have with my eyes. With my eyes it was almost transparent. With sonar, it was simply a wall.
The field gave a little as I hit it, but not much. I bounced off, and since I was still pointing in the direction of team one’s flag, I kept on going. Continue reading Demo: Part 19
Rachel raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on now?”
Tara crossed her arms. “I noticed you weren’t listening earlier. Is it the same thing we talked about before?”
Rachel took a breath and sighed. Jaclyn pulled her feet out of the holes she’d created when she landed, and shook her head. “I knew that was going to come back to haunt us.”
Remembering how little I could hear during the fight, I said, “I told Hal to update you if he had something that needed action on our part. So far it hasn’t, but I could tell him to update you anyway?”
“Rocket,” Rachel said, looking me directly in the eyes, “this is something that we all need to be kept updated on.” Continue reading Demo: Part 16
The flash worked better on the audience than anyone else. All around me, people were saying things like, “Can you see what’s happening?”
Amy shook her head. Tara, like me, appeared to be unaffected.
She’d probably anticipated the explosion.
Not that that mattered. What mattered was that the blast hadn’t affected Gordon either. Either his hood or something in his mask had blocked the light. Continue reading Demo: Part 13
Lim walked a couple steps more up the ramp, and joined me. “Keep on moving. I’ve got to get in there to thank everybody in person, and to assure them that their friends are getting the best medical care available—which is true by the way.”
I turned around, and started following Daniel for a few steps before turning back toward Lim to ask, “About those rights and responsibilities—“
Lim interrupted me. “We’re looking into it, but in the end you may have to flat out ask them. Of course, you may have a few more resources than most of us. Use them and you’ll have a head start.” Continue reading Glory: Part 7
An SUV came soon after that. All black with tinted windows, it was obviously used for carrying people who didn’t care to be seen. To the Rocket suit’s senses, it was also obviously armored, meaning it was just as obviously used by people who expected to be shot at.
We all got in–Rachel, Travis, Sean, Vaughn, Izzy, Jaclyn and I.
Izzy leaned against the wall in the back. When Travis turned back from the second row, and asked how she was doing, she barely opened her eyes, but said, “Fine. I’m tired, but there’s nothing wrong with me.”
Then her eyes shut, and she fell asleep.