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 other building. The dark one.” I pointed at it. Continue reading Who Are The True?: Part 7
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.
Vaughn threw a bolt of lightning at Art and he convulsed, going down for good as a crack of thunder echoed in the room. Continue reading Who Are The True?: Part 6
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.”
“What do you think we should do,” Vaughn asked, “Run?” Continue reading Who Are The True?: Part 5
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.”
Vaughn put the folder in the drawer and pushed it shut. “How are we doing?” Continue reading Who Are The True?: Part 4
How much of a chance was a question I had the next time the door opened. Ronnie, the security guard we sometimes saw on the helicopter, walked out and with him came Russell Hardwick and Ryan McCall.
It didn’t take long to guess where they might be going next—the office that we stood in. It was possible that they might walk to the helicopter and leave, but anyone who took Murphy’s Law seriously knew better. Continue reading Who Are The True?: Part 3
I set the implant to take an image of each page and flipped one after another until they were all in the implant’s memory, not even bothering to read them. I’d have time for that later. What we needed to do now was to get the information and get out.
“Oh, man,” Vaughn had opened one of the folders he’d pulled out of the filing cabinet and stood looking at the pages inside. Then he reached into the folder and pulled out a small object. “Remember this?” Continue reading Who Are The True?: Part 2
Vaughn, Stephanie, and I stood in Sandy’s office. Since Vaughn wore one of my new Heroes’ League costumes, he’d set it to fully cover him and turn black with no symbols. On the off-chance that any cameras were working other than mine, they’d see two men and a woman in unmarked costumes.
Symbols for hacking people’s brains covered Stephanie’s costume, but they were only obvious when she turned them on. From what I understood, she planned to do her best to avoid using them since that would reveal that “Hologram” (her mother’s codename and now hers) was here. Continue reading Who Are The True?: Part 1
“I could just stop above the building, engage the gravitics and float down. Then you could walk out.” Haley checked the screens on the instrument panel and then glanced back up toward the windshield.
“I’d like that.” Stephanie’s mouth twisted as she glanced in my direction.
Shrugging, I said, “I was thinking that if anyone was watching upward, we’d have a better chance for the jet to avoid detection if we floated down. I mean, yes, it’s hard to see, but if they know what to look for, they’ll see a jet shaped spot of nothing that turns into a jet in a blacker than black energy shield hovering above the building. If we drop out of it high enough, it won’t notice the jet or any of the three of us unless they’ve got phenomenal senses or exactly the right kind of Abominator tech.” Continue reading Truth and the True: Part 15
“Tonight?” Vaughn cocked his head. “It’s not like I’ve got anything going, but don’t you think they’re going to be extra watchful with Nick getting interrogated and the Nine involved?”
“For that matter,” I added, “if they’re making something or worse, making the True, they’re going to be extra worried. I don’t know what kind of security they’d have, but something alien seems likely.”
Stephanie nodded. “That’s why we should go tonight. It feels like things are escalating. They might not slow down until after everything is over.” Continue reading Truth and the True: Part 14