Tag Archives: Vaughn

Arc 8.6.0: Revelations

Revelations: Part 8

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Loosening my choke hold, I dropped to the ground, putting Lucas body in the center of the wards Samita had set up on the floor. The Thing That Eats’ head had disappeared, revealing Lucas’ face.

As he lay on the concrete between black lines and symbols that I didn’t recognize, I reminded myself that he had to be alive. I’d choked him correctly, and I’d timed it. The Thing That Eats had a talent for playing on people’s fears. My longstanding one was that I’d kill somebody who didn’t deserve it, and he’d done his best to play on it. Continue reading Revelations: Part 8 →

Arc 8.6.0: Revelations

Revelations: Part 6

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Haley’s face tightened as her other arm raked it across the eye while her legs dug in to the underside of its globular face. Blood spurted out from under the The Thing’s chin and it spit her arm out.

Haley had the presence of mind to land on her feet, but wobbled as she landed. Her costume, in the meantime, had already repaired itself. I might have taken it as a tribute to my work, but that wasn’t nearly as high in my mind as the question of whether the costume had adjusted correctly to the change. If it were pushing broken bone into flesh or muscle, it could only be hurting her.

She could adjust the suit though. I had to get it away from her, so she could get away from the fight. Continue reading Revelations: Part 6 →

Arc 8.5.0: Crisscross

Crisscross: Part 11

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“If you value your lives and the lives of those you care about, you’ll intervene from a distance if at all. If that creature bites you, you’ll be linked to it, or worse, become part of it.”

She watched me, waiting, I guessed, for my response.

“We won’t, at least most of us. We’ve been warded against it. I know you don’t like the source, but it works, and if you think about it, I’d bet that the blood magic you’re familiar with can’t do that.”

Shaking her head, she backed away. “Remember that I warned you. If we have to, we’ll kill anyone infected by the creature.” Continue reading Crisscross: Part 11 →

Arc 8.5.0: Crisscross

Crisscross: Part 9

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Before anyone could move, he nipped Philo’s shoulder, and lunged for me. I held up my arms, one forward in a block, and pulling the other back, ready to punch.

It bit my blocking arm, completely surrounding it from the elbow up, but that didn’t last. Warmth suffused my body, and a red glow tinged my view of the scene. The view from one of my spybots showed that the entire Rocket suit glowed red.

At the same moment, The Thing That Eats spit my hand out of its mouth, yelping in pain. Not wasting the moment, I punched it with all the strength the Rocket suit had, aiming a little upward. Continue reading Crisscross: Part 9 →

Arc 8.5.0: Crisscross

Crisscross: Part 8

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I’d never seen the new guy before. Aside from fitting my profile for the Cabal, he had dark, curly hair, light skin, and at least at that moment, a wide smile. He wore an oversized sweater and jeans.

Philo turned back to us. “This is Andronicus. I haven’t seen him in more than two, maybe three hundred years.”

Andronicus nodded to the group of us. “I have been busy this last little while.” Continue reading Crisscross: Part 8 →

Arc 8.5.0: Crisscross

Crisscross: Part 7

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My HUD showed my armor’s status as 89%—as in 11% of the armor’s cells had been damaged and no longer responded to commands. Even though the anti-tank mini-missile hadn’t hurt me, that counted for something.

If she had more of those, I might be forced to use the laser or the killbot.

It did strike me though that she was clearly in a mood to talk. If I could keep her talking, it would be better than killing her. Continue reading Crisscross: Part 7 →

Arc 8.5.0: Crisscross

Crisscross: Part 6

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“Getting people out of the way,” Haley said. “That’s what we’re doing.”

The woman in the Eagle suit was standing up, but not doing anything yet. I pointed my arms in her direction, saying, “Don’t move!” The Rocket suit’s PA system made sure she heard me.

I was about to tell Kid Biohack that as long as he was getting civilians out of harm’s way, he might also watch for Alden. He was the only one of us with a realistic chance of catching the guy. Continue reading Crisscross: Part 6 →

Arc 8.5.0: Crisscross

Crisscross: Part 5

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Haley looked the newly formed full Rocket suit up and down, but only glanced over at Camille, “Drop me off on the edge of the crowd. I’ll look for people who are too close.”

Vaughn turned to me, “You want to take Eagle suit? I think I can take force field guy.”

Out on the street, the Eagle suit had smashed one of the two Rocket suit clones into an Escalade. “Why not? She’s probably looking for a rematch.” Continue reading Crisscross: Part 5 →

Arc 8.5.0: Crisscross

Crisscross: Part 4

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My helmet dimmed the light as the lightning leapt from Vaughn’s black gloved hand, outlining the Eagle suit in sparks. The woman in red must have been struck too because she convulsed, even if she didn’t fall out of the air.

The Eagle suit did fall. It landed on the edge of one of the Escalades’ hoods, crumpling the metal underneath, but simultaneously jumping lightly to the ground. Then she flipped the Escalade onto its side.

Whoever was inside obviously hadn’t been hurt, but the wings had. One hung loosely, almost touching the ground. The other had retracted into a straight line that hung behind the suit’s back. A little smoke rose from the metal casing between the wings. Continue reading Crisscross: Part 4 →

Arc 8.5.0: Crisscross

Crisscross: Part 3

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“Going visible,” I said, and took the stealth suit out of camouflage mode. Now the stealth suit appeared in “classic” mode—all black with silver helmet and a silver “R” on the chest.

Waving with my right hand, I tried to get their attention while checking the comm to see if they were listed as using the common Heroes Alliance protocols. They appeared on the list as “PF AFS Unit 1” and “PF AFS Unit 2,” but they weren’t the only Protection Force people on the list. I didn’t have time to count, but there were at least ten, maybe twenty more. Continue reading Crisscross: Part 3 →