Cassie looked down at the ground and then back down the hallway, “That’s what the muddy footprints were? That’s so gross.”
Then she said, “Who wants to get the door?”
Marcus shifted into a pile of goo that seeped in the door’s direction but stopped just in front, asking, “Is it booby trapped?”
Daniel frowned, “I can’t tell.” Continue reading Stage Two: Part 9
Jaclyn sent me a message via her implant, “You mentioned it.”
Ignoring her, I replied, “Both of you should get them. Everyone else did yesterday. I’ve checked on the specs, and they’ve been designed to work even with people who have magnetic powers.”
In the back of my mind, though, I did remember that the implant could be used to immobilize someone at the command of a Xiniti citizen—which might be useful if Dominators got past their buzzers. Continue reading Bigger Things: Part 9
From there, the day turned into planning sessions, the first with those of us who hadn’t been drugged. By the afternoon, even those of us who had been drugged were with it enough to participate.
From there, it grew into a cast of thousands or at least it felt like it. We had everyone—Amy, Tara, Samita, Rod, Alex, Brooke, Jenny, Sean, Dayton, every member of the original Justice Fist but Jody, and every living member of our original group. If that weren’t enough, Dr. Transylvania, Ape Nasty, Prime, and his second-in-command attended remotely. Continue reading Bigger Things: Part 8
With Sean up, we didn’t have any reason to stay. We’d given everyone some privacy when they woke up, limiting the attendees to Alex and me and moving conscious people over to the side rooms.
It had been Alex’s idea. As he put it, “With poison, people sometimes vomit or… worse.”
No one needed to ask what was worse. Continue reading Bigger Things: Part 5
I get it; I thought back, and I’m glad you’re worried about lowering your ethical standards, but I think this is an okay exception. We’re talking about the possible destruction of Earth. That doesn’t come up too often.
I felt relief and then a stab of worry from Daniel, but he replied, In our lives, we’ll see more situations that we can justify exceptions than most people. Tell me if you think I’m being too cavalier with other people’s personalities. Because it does matter. It’s the right choice for now, but for all I know, that distrust I added might migrate to his thoughts about his father, and they might not ever reconcile or might attach to all his relationships, making him less connected to anybody. It shouldn’t be an easy choice. Continue reading Bigger Things: Part 4
Everyone tensed, a reasonable response, given that I’d told them that the end of the world was on its way and that my social skills might be the only thing standing in the way of planetary destruction.
Jaclyn responded to me first, thinking back, “Coming to meet you or coming to kill you?”
I shrugged, “That remains to be seen, but Kee thought he’d be interested in meeting because to the degree that I’m an Artificer, I’m descended from Nataw, his brother. He was also a friend of Lee, but he probably feels a bit betrayed by him. So, mentioning that is to be avoided.”
Haley looked up at me and thought, “And he could randomly show up at any time? Anything we do could be interrupted and then—BOOM—end of the world?” Continue reading Bigger Things: Part 3
As I flew toward the open windows, my implant summarized the feed from the tower to the degree it could—a series of pictures.
Scream Eagle rose toward the windows, gaining speed despite Camille’s control over gravity. A flash from Haley’s cam showed sweat on Camille’s brow, fists clenched, and mouth in a thin line.
Sean and Vaughn, meanwhile, were doing what they could. Sean whirled a circle of metal balls with enough speed that they turned into a ring reflecting the light of the sun and the room’s fluorescent lights. I’d seen what he could do with them. They made a highly mobile circular saw that could cut through more than you’d think. When used with his power, even if they shattered, he could continue to cut with the dust. Continue reading Regression: Part 19
Amnesia Angel’s wings faded away, replaced by nothing—no glowing wings, no feathered wings, just holes for wings in the back of their costume where the wings had emerged.
The holes inadvertently answered another question I’d had, revealing a bit of bra strap. That didn’t necessarily reveal the person’s internal sense of their gender, but statistically speaking, it would most of the time.
Anyway, I didn’t have time to ask pronouns at that moment because she (?) was more than 50 feet in the air, powerless, and either dead or unconscious. Continue reading Regression: Part 16
The bad news? Amy had zero chance of telling me everything I needed in the next few seconds.
Considering Amnesia Angel’s speed, I doubted I’d have seconds. They rushed me, sword out and slashing.
I twisted to avoid them, giving the rockets extra power and hoping the reaction time I’d saved by sending commands to the Rocket suit through my implant made a difference.
It did, but not enough. I felt pain in my thigh, burning but not unbearable. A glance downward showed no physical damage, the follow-through of the angel’s blade missing my right leg. Continue reading Regression: Part 14
Vaughn, for example, hit him with lightning again, and Power Burst’s slower speed made that easier. And Vaughn didn’t only target Power Burst. He targeted all of them—Scream Eagle and the two others speeding after them.
The hit on Scream Eagle was, if anything, a disappointment. Whatever designers the military had used for Scream Eagle’s armor before he stole it (or Rook after that), they’d thought ahead about lightning. The suit sparked, but he didn’t fall over.
Put bluntly, Camille’s gravity already held him to the ground, where Sean’s balls pummeled him from all sides (heh). Continue reading Regression: Part 11