Tag Archives: Vaughn

Arc 13.1.5: Relative Uncertainty

Relative Uncertainty: Part 5

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Vaughn frowned, “What about the other engineers? Should we warn them? They warned Steve. I know they’re not good people, but should we let all the other ones die? Maybe we have to go after the Nine’s people first?”

I felt my jaw drop, “Yeah. I was just thinking about keeping Uncle Steve safe. We ought to do something.”

Uncle Steve shook his head, “That’s going to be hard if not impossible. I don’t go by Steve Vander Sloot on my government jobs. I use different names every time and so do the rest of them—the ones that work for supervillains with any regularity.”

I thought about that, “How do you get jobs if no one knows each other’s name?” Continue reading Relative Uncertainty: Part 5 →

Arc 13.1.5: Relative Uncertainty

Relative Uncertainty: Part 4

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Remembering back to when we’d been on Renewal Island and bugging Armory’s lab, I’d seen one of the True alongside a clone of Cassie’s father visiting to check on mechs Armory was building for the Nine.

“I do,” I told him, watching his expression. “Tara is the daughter of people who defected from the True.”

His eyebrows furrowed, “The True?” Continue reading Relative Uncertainty: Part 4 →

Arc 13.1.5: Relative Uncertainty

Relative Uncertainty: Part 3

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Uncle Steve nodded, “They’re the biggest that I know of. I’m asking you for help because my father was the Rocket and I’ve suspected that you’re the current Rocket ever since the suit’s first reappearance.”

“Huh,” I said, “that’s quite a guess if it’s true.”

Uncle Steve smiled while Vaughn managed a surprisingly credible poker face. Continue reading Relative Uncertainty: Part 3 →

Arc 13.1.5: Relative Uncertainty

Relative Uncertainty: Part 2

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I considered asking him if visiting my house would help him. In my “brilliant kid who’s starting his own engineering firm” identity, it made sense. Why would he come to visit me in the first place? I couldn’t help him.

That would have led to questions that I didn’t want to answer over the phone, especially if he’d known that my grandpa, his father, was the Rocket.

“Sure,” I said, “most of us are home tonight. So at least you won’t be alone.” Continue reading Relative Uncertainty: Part 2 →

Arc 13.1.5: Relative Uncertainty

Relative Uncertainty: Part 1

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I put my dishes into the dishwasher, letting the door shut with a click. Despite the 80s look, which included big silvery plastic buttons surrounded by fake wood grain, it still worked. It worked better than my parents’ dishwasher in fact. Theirs tended to leave bits of food if you didn’t rinse the dishes before putting them inside.

It didn’t seem likely that 80s dishwashers were that much better (or longer lasting) than present-day appliances. I’d never taken it apart, but I wouldn’t have put it past my grandfather to stick alien tech or his own tech inside. It beat having to fix or replace the dishwasher. Continue reading Relative Uncertainty: Part 1 →

Arc 12.3.5: Transitions

Transitions: Part 8

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Minutes later, I was running through the plan with Jaclyn and the Probationers. Jaclyn had heard all of what we had in the process of keeping the rest of the team involved, but she was listening in as she ran to Indiana.

Not only couldn’t I see her face, but I only saw one of the Probationers as he sat in the jet they were flying. All I could see of the Atoner was his red and white costume, the metallic gray of his exoskeleton, and the gadgets that hung from it. His helmet covered his face, giving a hint of light brown skin and dark, black hair.

Even though Grandpa had helped train him, all I knew about the man was that he’d killed his team while under mind control and changed his name to the Atoner afterward. Continue reading Transitions: Part 8 →

Arc 12.3.5: Transitions

Transitions: Part 4

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“Hey, everybody,” I raised my hand to get their attention, “Hal just told me where my cousin Anastasia works. I think I told you all about her—well, except for Izzy. Ana’s the cousin who told my Uncle Steve about a contract to work with Armory, the guy who Cassie, Daniel, Yoselin, and I gave to the Feds. So, she’s got some kind of connection to all of this and it’s probably through work. She’s also an engineer. Oh, and it sounds like wherever she’s working is trying to duplicate the self-repairing feature of my armor. I don’t know what’s up with that.”

Vaughn raised his eyebrow, “I don’t think you mentioned the bit with how they’re trying to duplicate your tech, but what do you want to do about it? Break in or, I don’t know, make an unexpected visit as yourself?” Continue reading Transitions: Part 4 →

Arc 12.3.5: Transitions

Transitions: Part 3

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I wasn’t sure I liked how he phrased his last sentence, “Uh… Check on it? Did you lose it or something?”

He laughed, “Not exactly. We sent it to a safe place. You’re not the only person who’s ever asked us to pick up a bad guy’s stuff. In fact, we encourage it. Legally speaking, it’s the best choice. If you take it, you’re stealing evidence. If we take it, the prosecutor can use it at trial—which is much better.”

“I know. My grandfather told me about that. Plus, it was covered at Stapledon. So, where is it? Can we visit or is it so top secret that nobody can know the location of the vault?” Continue reading Transitions: Part 3 →

Arc 12.3.5: Transitions

Transitions: Part 2

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“God, yes,” Cassie stared up at the screen. “It was every bit that bad and they didn’t do the worst of it. That was Adam—remember Dark Cloak? He made some kind of deal with the fey that turned lets him call on weird shit out of faerie for help. Plus, you know what? They deserved it. They weren’t holding back. They were going for the kill.”

“Except,” Daniel caught her eye, ”they were under someone else’s control when they did it. They might have done the same thing on their own, but they didn’t have a choice.” Continue reading Transitions: Part 2 →

Arc 12.3.5: Transitions

Transitions: Part 1

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Master Martian went for it. From the tension in his shoulders and the tightness of his face as he said, “Yes,” I got the impression that he might not fully trust Daniel in his head, but he also knew that we didn’t have a record of treating villains any worse than any other hero group.

Plus, if he calculated the odds, it was obvious that we could do anything we wanted to him whether he said yes or no. So it wasn’t as if we had to lie about having a way home to get him to do something. Continue reading Transitions: Part 1 →