I checked Jaclyn’s, Tiger’s, and Izzy’s feeds. They’d been fighting the cadre of guards that appeared to be tasked with defending the teleportation systems.
Even better, they’d stepped inside Teleportation Operations. It said so on a black sign next to the door.
The first word that came to mind was “industrial.” Continue reading Stage Two: Part 6
Cassie muttered something that she didn’t bother to share and dropped her father’s sword.
As she did, the skull leveled out as the top half hit the floor, landing on a burning cubicle wall. Part of me marveled that any part of the skull was working, but I hadn’t gotten a good enough look after she’d cut it.
She’d cut it diagonally from one side of the bottom upward, revealing Dr. Mind, but not slicing into him—much. She’d cut into the outside that the brain’s tendrils extended into, but not the main body of it. While she’d cut into the ceramic container at the center of the skull, destroying Dr. Mind’s primary life support environment and many of the skull’s internal systems with it, Dr. Mind still lived. Continue reading Stage Two: Part 5
Cassie added, “I’m ready.”
She was. According to her suit’s stats, her leg had grown back.
“Now would work,” Tara said.
Still camouflaged, I poked my head up, pointing my arm at Dr. Mind, testing his shield. My sonics ran through various frequencies at a low volume, checking which were the most resonant.
Then I passed those frequencies to everyone’s PAs and even my spare sonic on Julie’s costume. I pushed up the volume to the maximum. Continue reading Stage Two: Part 4
“All of them,” I said as my words echoed throughout the room. “Did you know that you’d reused a base that the original team already destroyed once? Dr. Madness used the same cave in Brazil. Did you choose it because the entrance looked like a skull, or is there some supervillain base rental service?”
Dr. Mind chuckled. “Syndicate L provides many services to supervillains, but you must know that. They didn’t provide me with that cave. Dr. Madness tipped me off that it existed. He was a kind man in his way.” Continue reading Stage Two: Part 3
It was as good a throw as I’d ever seen from her, but for the first time, the Bloodspear stopped in midair, hitting nothing and stopping. Then it fell to the ground and disappeared.
As it fell, though, magical symbols appeared in the air. I recognized a few. Everyone in Stapledon had had to take a survey course in magic and magical creatures. While I couldn’t read many, I recognized the one for blood and felt a burst of energy.
That worried me. I couldn’t feel magic. Anything I could feel had to be Artificer-related. Continue reading Stage Two: Part 2
“Nick?” Haley’s voice sounded in my head courtesy of our implants.
“I’m okay,” I said, still feeling the heat.
“For two more hits,” she said, because she could check my vitals and armor stats just like everyone else could. With our implant-to-armor connection, all we had to do was think about it, and we knew.
“And no one else has as much armor on as you do,” she said. “We need to take it down now.”
My armor noted that repairs were in process and that it was increasing protection against energy weapons. That was nice to see. It was a recent update, and I’d been worried it might not kick in soon enough when I needed it. Continue reading Stage Two: Part 1
Former photocopier technician? Was Hal making a joke? Either way, Ben was too stuck to the wall to get to the shattered photocopier.
I’d started with the people next to the far wall because of the high potential ratio of stuck people to goobot fired. It wasn’t a bad decision either. I covered more than 20 people in my version of Silly String before anyone on the far wall realized what was going on.
When they did realize it, they began moving away from the wall and running to the right—a reasonable move, given that I’d started from the left. Continue reading Stage One: Part 10
As we neared the end of the hall, Izzy said, “Here,” swerving to the left of the elevator and punching the wall.
Jaclyn swerved with her, their arms a blur, leaving a hole wide enough for four of us to jump through at a time—which they did the moment they were done. We followed, all of us seemingly in Syndicate L’s armor, some flying, others dropping at the safe speeds that my anti-gravity tech allowed.
Haley didn’t bother, using my goo gun tech to fire off a line and swing down to the floor. Continue reading Stage One: Part 9
I hadn’t noticed. Glancing down, I found that one of the glossy black pouches on the glossy black belt of my glossy black armor had a small glow around the edges of the top flap.
Except for a moment where I concluded that Syndicate L had been going for looks rather than functionality with the design, my attention gravitated to the pouch. As it did, I remembered what was in the pouch.
Back when we’d met with the Wizards’ Council and a few other hidden immortals, Urin, a former Cabal member who dated back to Sumer, had given me a rock. Flat and white, it hadn’t looked like much, but he’d claimed it had a connection to Lee’s device and to the Artificers. Continue reading Stage One: Part 8
Izzy had slipped out of the jet before our approach with the idea that she could watch the process with her sonar. As we watched the guards retreat, she said, “I think they’re giving up on the roof. They’re locking doors behind them and arming defenses as they leave. I should go in first.”
Haley frowned, speaking through the comms. “Wait for a second. You’ve got the best view of anyone for now. We’ll need you in the air. Everyone else? It’s time to get down there. Don’t enter until we’re all down.” Continue reading Stage One: Part 7