“Knowing what happened to me today? Did something go viral?” I thought through what I’d done. Fighting Major Justice had that potential, but I hoped that was the end of it.
Stephanie laughed, “No. The Grey Giant showed up in LA today. He stole an armored truck full of money. Your tiff with Major Justice got attention, but Major Justice is B-list at best. He gets less attention from criticizing you in the press than you’d think—even if it’s more than he normally gets.”
Thinking about the Grey Giant, I shook my head. He hadn’t been dead when we left Renewal Island so it made sense that he’d be out there somewhere. At least he wasn’t here. Continue reading Friends & Family: Part 6→
Kals glanced in the direction of Katuk. She’d arrived just after Tiger, and said, “I’d like to help.”
Haley looked at her, “Are you sure? You were training Julie.”
Katuk spoke before Kals could reply, his voice level, “I was instructed to warn you if you do something that put you at serious risk. I want to help Nick as well, but going with them would put you at serious and unpredictable risk. In addition, you know that you’ll have to leave shortly. You’ll need to be healthy to help with the invasion and you’ll assist Nick more if Julie is capable.” Continue reading Friends & Family: Part 5→
We followed Stephanie down the hall toward the exit while she asked us questions that pointedly weren’t about what we were doing here. Except for her hint, they didn’t make any other reference to the last time we’d been together either. I followed her lead, answering her questions and choosing not to go in directions that might make her listeners suspicious.
As we reached the room we’d first entered—the one with the big TV and the two long couches facing it—she stopped, “I heard about what Cassie’s been doing—organizing multi-team training sessions at your property in the U.P. I think you’ll find plenty of people here who will be interested in working out with you. Personally, I think you’ll want to be careful about who you invite. Some people around here hold grudges. You know how that is.”
It might not be fair to either Gifford or Hunter, but I’d never particularly liked either of them. Gifford and Gordon came from a legacy hero family, the kind that lived in private compounds and didn’t interact much with normal people. Hunter’s mother was a legacy superhero,celebrity, and superhero stage mom (from what I’d seen).
She had a reality TV show about her life in Hollywood called, “Diva!” To judge from the online commercials, Hunter and Gifford appeared sometimes.
Also, and here’s where the unfairness came in, Gifford was interested in Haley. It hadn’t caused problems because she wasn’t interested in him, but it didn’t make me like him more. Continue reading Old Friends & Enemies: Part 4→
Bullet stopped wiping his face, “Who was she really? Do you know?”
“No,” Daniel continued to watch him, “we were hoping you might know. We’re guessing she’s one of the Dominators.”
Looking over at Daniel, Bullet stuffed his handkerchief back in his pants pocket, “I’m going to kill her.”
“You don’t know where she is,” Tara said, her voice level and controlled. “You haven’t seen her since and you haven’t been looking because she controlled you so completely that you never tried. What makes you think that you could?” Continue reading Old Friends & Enemies: Part 3→
Tara wore the katana she’d carried the night before. I wondered what it did if anything. I hadn’t made it, after all.
It could be that it was just a sword that she’d chosen to use when she adopted her late father’s superhero identity—Ronin. Given that they were masterless warriors and he’d left the True, I could see why the name might have resonated with him and her too. Continue reading Loose Ends: Part 4→
We stood in the parking lot. Haley looked up at me. “So, where are we going?”
The two buildings stood next to each other, the main one well lit with the glassy front office illuminated to the point that I didn’t need my helmet’s night vision to see Emmy’s desk inside.
The second building was a twin in size, but nothing appeared to be lit at all from the outside. It loomed above us, dark and windowless.
The claw had penetrated at least an inch deep and while the other four hadn’t penetrated as far, they were all bleeding—a lot.
Aiming the sonics of my left arm at Art, who’d begun to get up from the floor,I fumbled with a can that hung on my utility belt, pulled it out, and sprayed, covered the wounds with foam.
Ryan muttered, “Huh?” He followed it up with, “Shit. Someone broke in and went through the—”
He stopped talking and then I heard a series of electronic clicking noises. He had to be calling someone.
Over the communicator, I told everyone, “They found the broken drawer and Ryan’s calling someone for help. I don’t know who, but we need to get out before they come this way.”
Despite my curiosity about the armor, my mind went back to the thing I should really be worried about. “Hey everyone, they’ve already got the True. Also, Art and Zola are coming along with Ronnie, Uncle Russ, and Ryan, so we’d better get out of here.”
Putting the papers back in the folder and handing it to Vaughn, Stephanie said, “Ok. Done. I was going to go over them once to see if I missed anything, but we don’t have time.”
