To my surprise, I understood what was going on. Artificers started out with physical bodies, but after a certain point, they used them only when they needed them.
This all had something to do with how they linked up with alternate versions of themselves. Whether they created one entity with an infinity of different forms or a composite formed through infinite connections, I didn’t know.
I did know that if he didn’t die now, we’d have a much bigger problem. On the bright side, joining up an infinity of different beings would take time. If I were lucky, it might not even be possible in here. Continue reading Magnus: Part 5→
I didn’t know how much Magnus knew about electricity, but he had to know about rivers. Flooding caused massive problems in the ancient world. It wasn’t great for dams in the modern world either.
Overloading electrical components wasn’t the same, but loose parallels existed. Anyway, if he pulled in too much power at once, he’d be the component that burned out or the newly shattered dam.
I couldn’t see any hint of a connection to the energies that Artificers used, so I knew that the sword wouldn’t do much of anything.
Thanks to the suit, I wasn’t short of normal ways to hurt people. I fired off a series of goobots. For all I knew, these guys were important to history in some way I wasn’t aware of.
The gray lines spread out from the bots, covering them in layers of sticky goo. They twisted, pulling against them, finding that they were stuck, then changed tactics. Continue reading Magnus: Part 3→
With a wide smile, Magnus continued, “You might think you can avoid submitting to me, but are you willing to allow your friends and family to die for your freedom? If I were to strike the first Rocket with my power, you’d cease to exist.”
Then he began to laugh. “So what is it hero? Give me the ability to trust you or risk your very existence? Not to mention making me kill your grandfather.”
He smiled again. “Or you grandmother. It truly doesn’t matter which. What’s important is the end result.”
Magnus kept on talking. Ray hadn’t been wrong in calling him a blowhard.
I couldn’t complain. It gave me time to figure out the next step, whatever that turned out to be. It was supposed to be distracting Magnus so Ray could backstab him. That might still be the plan, but Ray didn’t seem to be in any hurry. Continue reading Magnus: Part 1→
On a completely theoretical level, you could imagine that with me pulling power from the device to cut and Magnus pulling power from the device to protect himself we’d be equal.
Anyone who’s ever designed anything knows that’s utter garbage, though.
The amount of power you can get out of something depends on where in the system you’re pulling it from, how you’re using that power, what you’re using it on, and too many details to list. With more complicated devices, your access level to the control systems and your level of skill matter, too. Continue reading Singularity: Part 20→
“Wow,” I said, turning and doing a quick scan of Power Burst with the suit’s sensors along with “Artificer vision.”
Grandpa glanced down toward Power Burst and then to the middle of the room where Magnus and the throne stayed. He shrugged, “It worked on Dixie Superman the second time we fought him and this guy seemed to have the same powers. Did the bastard have kids?”
Following his eyes, I watched Collette, Magnus and Ray as they watched from behind the glowing golden barrier. “I assumed Power Burst was a clone.” Continue reading Singularity: Part 19→
No first aid I’d been taught included how to handle how to save someone you’d stabbed with a sword made out of your soul (or whatever), and I didn’t have time to take off Scream Eagle’s armor to see if I could help him anyway.
I could only hope that if he did die, it didn’t make much of a difference in that fight to steal Jody.
Flying closer to me, Grandpa asked, “Did Lee teach you that?”
“Two Rockets?” Scream Eagle shouted, faking an English accent just like he had the last time we fought. “Wouldn’t it be funny if you fought each other?”
My suit’s computer informed me of the growing magnetic field, but I didn’t need it. I’d already seen the True’s guns begin to float upward, some dragging the unconscious bodies of their owners across the floor toward us by the strap of their rifle or belt and holstered pistol.
Energy built and then spread outward in an explosion of power, but fortunately not a physical one. Well, sort of fortunately, in the sense that it was a lot of energy that I’d rather not be hit with. It was less fortunate in the sense that Power Burst, Jody, Amnesia Angel, Artemis, Scream Eagle, and maybe again Ray had absorbed a lot of energy and I had little doubt they intended to transfer it in my direction.
If I hadn’t been flying and aiming lasers at the Cabal, I might have tried to reach in and cut off Magnus’ power. That might end the fight, depending on how giving out powers worked. If empowering minions were more like lighting a candle than plugging in a radio, it would be harder. Continue reading Singularity: Part 16→
The Legion of Nothing: A Series of Online Superhero Novels (Updates Monday and Thursday)
