Tag Archives: Sydney

Arc 6.6: The Battle of Grand Lake

The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 7

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“One more thing,” Haley said. “The armor Chris made for you back when we fought the Cabal is still here, right?”

Kayla said, “Yes,” hoping her voice didn’t sound like she was thinking what she was actually thinking–that this was getting worse and worse.

Haley glanced toward the hangar where they’d kept it, and said, “If it sounds like they’re coming down here put it on. It might make the difference between living or dying.”

“But I was awful in it. I was useless. I don’t like fighting. I’m fine helping you coordinate, but I don’t train all the time like you do.”

Kayla put her hands in her lap, suddenly aware that they were shaking.

Continue reading The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 7 →

Arc 6.6: The Battle of Grand Lake

The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 5

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Gerald snorted. “Bet we could get in.”

Kayla felt her jaw drop. “I don’t think that would be—“

“I know. I know!” Gerald shook his head. “Even if they helped it wouldn’t be worth it. I saw what they did to people in the end. We’re all better off dead than that. I was speaking hypothetically. I saw the fight with the robots on the news. Nick’s been working with his grandfather’s mono-molecular blade tech. Chances are he’s got a prototype lying around.”

Marcus smiled, and leaned forward at the table. “He made a jackknife. I came down here once when he showed me. That wasn’t the best part though. The best part was when he forgot it was on and it cut through the table. He grabbed it before it went through the floor.”

Haley shook her head. “At least he didn’t cut his fingers off.”

Continue reading The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 5 →

Arc 6.6: The Battle of Grand Lake

The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 4

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Kayla watched as two men in powered armor stepped through the sewer tunnel entrance Sydney and Camille had used.

Both suits were gray with bulky chests, and wide, stubby legs. The chests and legs opened in the front. Chris stepped out first. Dressed in what could best be described as a black flight suit, Chris stood a little over six feet tall.

She knew he’d been shorter than that when she’d last seen him.

He helped his grandfather out of his armor, or tried to. After he had one leg out, Gerald Cannon said, “You can let go, I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Continue reading The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 4 →

Arc 6.6: The Battle of Grand Lake

The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 3

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“The ship?” Kayla glanced across the room toward the big, metal doors to the hangar.

“Might be,” Haley said, and sighed. “There’s a lot of stuff in the base, and I don’t know what a quarter of it is. The Rocket would know. Oh… Could you ask the jet to check out the ship?”

Kayla said, “Ok,” and began to move her mouse pointer toward the jet’s icon.

She only made it halfway when the jet’s square started blinking, and a message appeared.

Continue reading The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 3 →

Arc 6.6: The Battle of Grand Lake

The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 1

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Kayla sat in a chair in front of a computer screen inside one of the most famous secret bases in the world, and tried to stay awake.

It had sounded more fun when Cassie pitched it to her last summer. Cassie had been grinning the whole time. “We need someone back in the base to do research or call for help or whatever. You need money for college. This way you’ll be able to help, but you won’t have to be in danger, and we’ll be able to hang out all the time like we did before.”

“Before” as in before Cassie got her father’s superpowers, turned cape, and revived the Heroes League.

It was also “before” (though Cassie didn’t know it then) as in before the Nine targeted Cassie, forcing her to relocate to Washington D.C.

Continue reading The Battle of Grand Lake: Part 1 →

Arc 5.9: Spin

Spin: Part 3

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Mindstryke nodded. “She’s right, but it’s not going to be all bad. It’ll be hard to deal with at first, but it could be worse.”

He glanced to the right, toward something off camera. When his eyes were on us again, he said, “You’ve just experienced what would be a life changing event for some capes. You stopped St. Louis from being destroyed and did it with minimal loss of life. If you want, you’ll be interviewed every day of the week. People will want to pay you thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars for product endorsements. You’ll be celebrities.”

He stopped, gave a sigh, and continued. “I’ve known a lot of people who used events like this to change careers. They stayed in just far enough that they were visible vigilantes, but they spent the rest of their time being ‘the man who saved St. Louis.’” Continue reading Spin: Part 3 →

Arc 5.9: Spin

Spin: Part 2

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I stared at the screen. “The board? As in the League’s board or the Defenders’?”

Mindstryke shook his head. “Not the Defenders’ board, the League’s. But that’s for later. Right now I’d like you to explain what happened from the point where you first became aware this was possible through to your response.”

We did. Rachel told him about first hearing about the possibility in Infinity City. I described how I’d recognized a clue after months of searching. Then everybody explained their individual part in the plan.

He nodded as we talked, no longer smiling, but taking notes, and asking questions.

After we were done, he said, “Ok, I’ll summarize this, and then we’ll go over what to talk about and what to skip if someone asks you about it.

Continue reading Spin: Part 2 →

Arc 5.9: Spin

Spin: Part 1

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Haley landed the jet in the parking lot between the storage building and the factory.

We’d arrived less than an hour before, and aside from a little debris from the bombs, it didn’t look much different. It was lighter (past the factories and warehouses, the eastern sky glowed), and the tornado sirens were still going, but it was close to the same.

An inch of snow still covered the ground, and the temperature felt cold—if not as cold as Michigan.

For that matter, all the buildings that had been standing when we arrived were still standing. The ones that weren’t visible from here.

Still, it felt like we’d been there a week.

Continue reading Spin: Part 1 →

Arc 5.8: Chance & Fate

Chance & Fate: Part 9

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“Storm King, are you ready?”

Vaughn didn’t seem to hear me at first, but as I was about to ask again, he said, “Almost, it’s hard to get the position right—unless you want it to suck us up too?”

“I’m against that.” I eyed Camille, realizing that I didn’t know her codename if she had one. “Hey, are you ready to float them upward?”

She nodded, taking a breath as she did it. I hoped she wasn’t already too tired to manage it. I wondered if we shouldn’t have had Vaughn create a tornado around the storage building from the beginning. Then Camille could have been backup if the bombs escaped.

She wouldn’t have the strength to do much after this.

Continue reading Chance & Fate: Part 9 →

Arc 5.8: Chance & Fate

Chance & Fate: Part 8

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“So, do you think you can handle it, or if it even needs to be handled right now?”

Daniel went quiet. Then he said, “I just swept the area telepathically, and at least five of them are awake. Plus, even though my precognitive ability is pretty vague, I get the sense that the bomb’s going to take out the city if we don’t attack. Actually, I think it’s got a good chance of going off if we do, but it’s inevitable if we don’t.”

In the background, I heard Izzy say, “Have him call the Defenders.”

She was completely correct. This was exactly when we needed to call in the Defenders.

“Did you hear that?” Daniel spoke quietly.

“Got it. Just a second.” Continue reading Chance & Fate: Part 8 →