Arc 1.5: 1953

1953: Part 1

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What follows is the beginning of a short arc about the founding of the original Heroes League. We’ll get to start off meeting characters that are all dead by the time the present day storyline starts — Nick’s grandparents (Joe and Romy), Red Lightning, and the original Night Wolf in his day job as the manager of a pizzeria.

Sorry it didn’t get up earlier. Starting a new story is hard — all new characters and a new plot, not to mention my tendency to start reading about the 1950’s and then get distracted by the research.
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Arc 1.4: In the Public Eye

In the Public Eye: Part 60

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I shut down HQ for the night around 11:23 pm, knowing even as I did it that my parents weren’t going to be happy.

We had arrived back at 10:47 pm. In theory, I suppose, I could have been home on time if I’d skipped showering and let everyone else turn things off. Unfortunately just taking off the armor and putting it away took 10 minutes. Short of asking Jaclyn to carry me back to the house at full speed, I couldn’t see any way to be home on time.
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Arc 1.4: In the Public Eye

In the Public Eye: Part 59

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Inside the police department looked like most institutional buildings — beige walls, tile floor, cubicles — but with the obvious addition of men and women in blue carrying guns.

We ended up standing inside a conference room. “We” in this case meant new and old Heroes League members, the Midwest Defenders, the FBI representatives, PsyKick, Larry, and a few police.

It was a big conference room — two, actually. They’d taken out the divider between two rooms as we came in.

The tables had been pushed to the wall and the sleeping bodies placed in the middle of the room. All the rest of us stood around the edges while Daniel, his dad, the Fed with the psychic helmet, and PsyKick deep probed their minds.
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Arc 1.4: In the Public Eye

In the Public Eye: Part 58

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“No. There’s no way I’m doing that,” I said.

“That was a joke. I wasn’t suggesting you let Mindstryke take over, but you need to listen to the guy. No one thinks about it when they start, but managing your image is a major piece of the job.”

Guardian pulled a couple pieces of pepperoni pizza onto a plate.

Flick leaned in toward the table and smiled briefly. “He’s right. Some of you have heard about what happened when I joined the Defenders. I think the most important thing I’ve learned in the past two years is how to handle myself in public.”
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Arc 1.4: In the Public Eye

In the Public Eye: Part 57

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“Is there some way I could avoid being on TV?” I said.

“Are you nervous?” Haley asked. “Your grandfather was on TV all the time.”

“Was he your grandfather?” Flick said. “I wondered about the connection. I remember seeing him on TV as a little kid. He always seemed so calm.”

Flick didn’t seem all that much older than we were. I would have guessed mid to late twenties. At best she could have seen him at the tail end of his career unless she’d seen some old news footage. During a history class, I once saw him in a World War II era newsreel.
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Arc 1.4: In the Public Eye

In the Public Eye: Part 56

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The house only blew up a little bit — at least by comparison to an atomic bomb, for example. It didn’t have a mushroom cloud, just gouts of flame pouring out the kitchen windows and doors. To judge from what it looked like afterwards, it must have blasted out a couple pieces of wall too, but I was too distracted by the flames and smoke to notice.

We had already gotten out when it happened. The explosion destroyed the kitchen, part of the dining room, and started most of the back of the house burning. Even through my armor I could feel the heat a little.

I hit the ground when it blew like everyone else, realizing belatedly that I probably didn’t have to.
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Arc 1.4: In the Public Eye

In the Public Eye: Part 55

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The Hangman who had caught Marcus swung the rope end of the noose toward Water. He froze as it touched his neck, the rope tying itself into a second noose. However quickly he thought he could change, Water ended up in human form.

They’d taken us all out.

Well, all of us except me, and I’d decided to pretend otherwise. With any luck I’d get some useful information and maybe get the chance to surprise them.
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Arc 1.4: In the Public Eye

In the Public Eye: Part 54

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According to “Double V,” the Hangmen were dead people given the chance to live a second time. I didn’t remember the article being clear on why.

I understood how the writer might have missed that detail. The Hangmen didn’t seem particularly talkative. In fact, they didn’t say anything at all as they got off the remains of the table and onto the (now heavily scratched) wooden floor.

Vengeance stood in front of them, knife hanging from his belt, rifle on his back.
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Arc 1.4: In the Public Eye

In the Public Eye: Part 53

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This looks interesting, Daniel thought, but we don’t have time to follow it all the way through. I’m going to have him free associate.

Scattered memories of passing years — Martin Magnus conducting a ceremony in a dark room, and handing Bouman a cup. Letters and couriers appearing in the dead of night carrying secret messages… Using an expanding telepathic awareness to enter the mind of one official after another… The mayor’s inspection of a gun wielding assassin’s now irreparably damaged mind…

A recent memory — A red-haired man in a black suit and sunglasses sat in the mayor’s study upstairs. I could feel a mixture of anticipation and fear as the mayor looked across the desk.
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Arc 1.4: In the Public Eye

In the Public Eye: Part 52

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The beam struck the floor in front of us and the carpet caught fire. Water slid forward and became a puddle, smothering it. Then he reverted into human-shaped water.

“Come any closer to me or my family and I’ll blast you,” Bouman said.

“Oh come on,” Daniel said. “This has nothing to do with your family. That has got to be one of the stupidest rationalizations I have ever heard. You’ve been manipulating people for ages and now you’re afraid to face the music. That’s the only reason you’re holding the gun.”
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The Legion of Nothing: A Series of Online Superhero Novels (Updates Monday and Thursday)