Between the unconscious bodies on the ground from Jaclyn’s attack, and my sonic blast, Prime’s people hung back until one of of them shouted, “Move!”
Well, if I could call them Prime’s people.
Some of them looked professional — black (probably bulletproof) vests, belts with pouches, knives, and guns. The rest looked like they’d been pulled from local (and not so local) street gangs.
They had guns too — not submachine guns like the professionals, mostly handguns.
Continue reading War: Part 8
Prime stood at the front of the crowd. He didn’t look like someone who had lived most of the way through two millenniums. Under the single light, his brush cut, blond hair shone. His face, all hard lines, but still smooth, could have easily passed for thirty.
As we stepped closer to him, he pulled a sword out of his trench coat. Between Lee’s teaching, and Daniel showing me some books on Roman history, I recognized it as a gladius, the Roman legions’ traditional sword.
Behind me, Marcus muttered, “There can be only one.”
Continue reading War: Part 7
Vaughn, Marcus, and Daniel, each of them too tired to fly, ended up riding in the back of Night Wolf’s car with Travis and Haley.
With the Rocket suit’s computer down, I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of flying either, so I ran back to HQ. Jaclyn ran with me, making sure I made it. Even with many systems down, the suit still did most of the work, so I was okay. Besides, I’d rested a little while other people talked to police and reporters.
Taking off the suit turned out to be a near impossible without help. Systems that were supposed to unlock the armor’s sections wouldn’t release their hold.
Continue reading Counterattack: Part 10
“Accelerando,” I said, “They’ve got people on top of the Meijers.”
“Go,” Jaclyn said. “Night Wolf, Ghost, let’s head over there.”
I didn’t wait to see what happened. I shot across the road, weaving to make myself a less of a target, and keeping low.
The parking lot passed in blur of dark cars.
Continue reading Counterattack: Part 9
After the attack of the week before, we’d made the patrols less obvious. No more swinging through the streets, or even flying low for Vaughn and Daniel. We concentrated on stealth, or at least on keeping a low profile.
We didn’t see any more snipers.
They’d apparently decided to go for another method of attack — and so had we.
Continue reading Counterattack: Part 7
“Red Legacy?” Marcus said. “Are you trying to remind people of Red Lightning? Or was that accidental?”
Red Legacy chuckled. “I was going to remind people of Red Lightning one way or the other.”
He held his hands apart in front of him, facing each other. Electricity crackled between them. It was colored red.
“Oh wow, you’re doomed.”
Continue reading Legio: Part 3
The vision of the room’s past dissolved into the equally disturbing present.
From off to my right, Haley said, “That was… horrible.”
Next to the upstairs stairway, Travis said, “It was definitely intense. Hey, Lieutenant, did you ever talk to the guy from upstairs?”
Continue reading Legio: Part 2
“You bet. We’ll pass on whatever shows up,” Vaughn said. “Right, guys?” He looked over the rest of us.
I thought about replying. It seemed like a good idea, but maybe not immediately. I had time. Then I thought about it a little more.
+++
Me: We might be a little too calm.
Daniel: Crap. I was concentrating too hard on resisting him. You’re right.
+++
Continue reading Rivalry: Part 9
When we got back to the jet, I pulled the alert’s GPS data up, and headed toward downtown Grand Lake.
We flew westward through the sky, toward the sun as it moved lower, beginning to dip into Lake Michigan.
I gave them the short version of what Cannon had said as we flew home, but we didn’t get to really discuss it. Including the time it took to start the jet, it took ten minutes to get there.
We were too late, but in the best possible way.
Continue reading Rivalry: Part 8
“So you just told him?” Jaclyn didn’t seem to be able to contain her disbelief.
“It’s not like I invited him to train with us,” I said. “I just told him the same thing I’ve always told anyone curious about who I’m taking martial arts from.”
“It’s not that bad,” Haley said. “Of all Sean’s friends, Dayton’s the only one who’s actually nice.”
Continue reading Uncontrolled Substances: Part 2